Worth Running To - SoRiku
by TurnUps
Summary: Pirate AU - Sora is looking for a crew, Riku is looking to be as far away from England as possible. He didn't bargain for sailing headfirst into a storm in the hopes of finding treasure that sets them both on an epic quest. It would be a lot easier if they weren't hopelessly falling for each other.
1. Chapter 1

The Highwind

Sora had spotted the boy as soon as he came in. It wasn't the hair – it looked almost white in the lamplight, but it was silver, or the piercing blue-green eyes that sparkled like the sea. And it wasn't the sheer size of his arms, though they were comparable to an oarsman.

It was the way he had wrinkled his nose at the heady smell of alcohol that sat over the whole tavern like a fog. The way he stood – upright and stiff, moving out of everyone's way without being shoved. Both showed that he didn't belong here – he didn't even look old enough to be let into a pub.

Not that Sora was either, but Sora had hardly had what most folks would call a proper upbringing. He'd earnt his right to sit here at the tavern with men three times his weight with a bottle of rum and a sign that read 'crew wanted.' In fact, it was spelt 'krew wanted,' and he suspected he'd written the 'd' backwards, but he figured enough people would get the point.

This boy was clearly a posh one. He'd watched the boy lurk around the edges of the pub, never making eye contact with anyone for more than a moment. His hands were tight on the neck of his cloak in an almost comic way of hiding his face from everyone. On the run, Sora thought. He'd seen that expression before and it always made his stomach twinge. To have something to run from – that was the dream.

So, he'd watched the boy, because he was more entertaining than watching men arm wrestle, or try to flirt with the maid behind the bar. (Though sometimes she did whallop them one, and that never got tiring to watch.)

And then the boy's eyes skimmed over him. Skimmed back. He looked – actually looked at Sora for more than a second, where most of the other men would curl their lip or raise their eyebrow. Sora could feel his lips curved upwards in a smile.

The boy didn't smile back, but he did fight his way through the crowd and over to Sora's table in the corner. His eyes dropped down to the wax paper sign propped up between two empty tankards.

"You're looking for a crew?" he asked, in the breathless tone of someone needing a quick getaway. Sora stopped himself from grinning – he hadn't even made an effort to disguise his posh voice.

"That's what the sign says." Sora replied, but with a lopsided grin and a wink.

The boy wet his lips. Glanced away. Glanced back with a determined face – like he was determined to ignore that wink. "How soon do you set sail?"

"If you join up, we can get going straight away."

The boy nodded and slid into the booth next to him. That made Sora pause. The kid may have been asking for it – he practically screamed 'I'm rich and desperate, scam me,' but he wasn't about to take advantage of him.

"Understand, I can't pay you nothing. Not until we find treasure," he said. The boy should have been asking more questions before he signed up for a voyage to who knew where. Running – desperation – Sora wondered what that felt like. To have something worth running away from.

"That's fine." The boy nodded out at the rest of the pub. "Which one is yours?"

"Eh?"

"Which one is your crew?" the boy repeated.

"Here," Sora gestured at the booth, still smiling, like it was completely normal. He was wondering how long it would be before they got to this.

The boy blinked at him. He looked from him, to Donald, to Goofy, and back at Sora. His features twisted into something between anger and disgust.

"Are you drunk?" he asked.

"Not at all," Sora said. "This is my crew, and you'd never hope to sail with finer men."

"_Men_?" the boy repeated, incredulously. "They're not _men_!"

Some of the burlier guys and gals frowned over at them for the noise, but once they saw Sora, they rolled their eyes and turned back to their conversation.

Sora frowned, but he knew it was more of a pout. "And how many sea voyages have _you _been on?"

The boy blinked. "Well, none."

"Exactly. These two have been on more adventures than you, and that makes them men of the sea in my book."

"You should learn to read that book," the boy said scathingly. "You can't bring a _duck_ and a – a –"

"Goofy's a dog," Sora said. He scratched Goofy behind a scruffy ear and Goofy panted appreciatively.

"I've never seen a dog like that."

"That's because he's an old sea dog." It was simple logic, really. He couldn't understand everyone's confusion at Goofy.

"And you think you can sail a boat between the two of us, a dog and a _duck?" _The boy frowned at him, and put his hands on the table, pushing himself upwards.

Sora turned to Goofy so that the boy couldn't see Sora's scowl. He had known the boy would react that way – everyone always did, but he had really been hoping that this time would be different. He had _liked _this one – had liked that he was young and on the run. That he wanted to be anywhere but here, because Sora was like that too. He _needed _to be anywhere but here – to find something worth running from or worth running too. And this kid might have been posh, but he was pretty and easily flustered and Sora was already imagining getting to know him more. Could he be heartbroken over a five-minute encounter?

Goofy seemed to sense his annoyance. The huge wolfhound – well wolfhound cross, but Sora didn't know crossed with _what_ – gave his cheek a snuffle. He sneezed against him and Sora couldn't help it – he laughed, hooking an arm around Goofy's neck and scratching his huge head with both hands. Donald shuffled his feathers, looking as reproachful as a duck could, before sticking his beak in the air and pretending that he hadn't seen this display of affection. It only made Sora's grin widen.

The boy was still standing at the table.

Sora looked up and saw him staring at him, slightly open mouthed. His green eyes glinted in the dim light of the pub. There were only a few hanging lanterns, casting a golden, flickering light over them and casting dark shadows over the boy's pale skin. When their eyes met, he shut his mouth and stared at the alcohol puddled floor, his cheeks tinged pink. It gave Sora an inkling of what the boy was running from – if he hadn't been able to guess anyway.

"My ship ain't that big yet," Sora said. He _wanted _this one to come with them. "We could manage it easy. And I'm the only one here setting sail tomorrow morning. Everyone else here says there'll be a storm this week – they want to wait it out."

Slowly, the boy eased himself back into the booth. He stared at the grubby floor for a long time, before he looked up at Sora. His eyes caught the lamplight again, in just the right way, and Sora could see it then. Those eyes held the sparkle of the sea in them and persuaded his breath to stay stuck in his throat.

"You're going tomorrow?" he asked, quietly.

Sora nodded. He put his other arm around Goofy, leaning on the dog.

"Even though there's going to be a storm?"

"A storm sounds like a good adventure."

The boy shook his head. "You're crazy."

"Maybe," Sora said, feeling his smile return. "But you're coming with me."

"I never said that." The boy looked around the pub a final time. Looking for other options and met only with scowls from men twice the size of him.

Sora grinned. "But you are."

The boy sighed. He gave a final, _final _glance around the pub only to see a collection of thugs drinking themselves sick, then nodded. Sora beamed at him. He was positively glowing. Yes, he _liked _this one – this one he could have a real adventure with.

"Sora," he said, finally untangling himself from Goofy, and sticking his hand out across the table. "Captain Sora."

"Captain of a small boat, a dog and a duck."

"And you."

The boy's hand lingered just a second longer than it should have. He had a firm grip, though his skin was smooth. Not used to a day's work.

"I'm Riku." He was smiling – a small, gentle smile that was a good fit on his face.

There was a loud and indignant quack. Goofy had the habit of sniffing Donald's tail feathers, and hadn't _quite_ got the message that it was unwanted attention. Donald had turned and was snapping at the huge dog with a bright orange beak.

"Hey – hey, you two –" Sora pulled Goofy away, trying to calm Donald down with an outstretched hand. It was a mistake – that duck had an unstoppable temper, and he bit at Sora's fingers too.

He cursed and put his attacked appendages into his mouth.

But then he heard laughter.

He looked up to see Riku, a hand clasped over his mouth to muffle the noise, laughing.

It brought the grin back to his face. He was laughing too, and yes –

Sora knew this was going to be an adventure.

Riku stared at the boy sat across from him. The boy who had definitely made a conscious effort to make his fingertips feel as much of Riku's palm as possible before he pulled away. His hands were rough and firm – they didn't match the softness that was the rest of him. This boy with skin that just glowed brown – like he had absorbed the sun and was just beaming it out of him. This boy with hair that stuck up in a thousand different directions and a crooked smile and the _bluest _eyes he'd ever seen. Eyes like a cloudless sky. Maybe bluer than that.

Sora. Captain Sora.

He was wrestling his beast of a dog further into the booth so that he could plant himself between it and the duck. Riku had never seen a dog like that – lanky and black and shaggy, with a long, almost crooked snout. It's eyes were so blank – Riku could almost believe that it was once intelligent, but had given up all of its wisdom to save humanity.

The duck was a lot more normal looking – a plain white mallard, with beady eyes. It was an angry little thing.

How was this trio even allowed in here?

Sora was watching him, one hand still buried in Goofy's fur. His head was tilted to the side and his mouth was slightly open – Riku could see a gleam of white teeth.

"So, Riku," Sora said. He let the name drip from his tongue like it was made of honey. "Why are you in such a hurry to get away?"

His gut clenched and his heart jerked in his chest like it was trying to jump overboard. But he had always had a knack for cards – hopefully he had a half-decent poker face to match.

"I'm not," he lied. He had to be out of here, tomorrow. That was all that mattered.

Sora's head tilted further, like he was trying to copy Goofy. His crooked smile lifted up again. Was it a requirement of being a pirate to have a crooked grin?

"I know the look of a boy on the run."

"And - are you?" Riku asked.

And Sora laughed. Laughter seemed to come as easily as breathing to him. It was a careless sound.

"Me? Never?"

"Aren't you supposed to be?" Riku leant across the table, let his long hair fall forward like a curtain. He had lost the ribbon tying it back before he had even step foot in here, but there were men with longer hair milling around. "Isn't piracy supposed to be illegal?"

Sora leant forward too, blue eyes glittering. "Only if you get caught."

That made Riku's mouth twitch. He leant back to hide it – to hide his clothes.

"Most people don't want to sail right into a storm," Sora continued. "Not unless they're in a hurry to escape something."

He'd been too obvious. He knew he had, and now he'd been caught. He sat there, staring at Sora and trying to think of an excuse. Tried to think of anything but the truth, but this boy wouldn't believe any of them. He stuck out like a sore thumb amongst this people – none of them would believe Riku if he said he was a thief or a murderer.

"You don't have to say," Sora said. Donald ruffled his feathers next to him, squatting down, and Sora's fingers skimmed over his folded feathers. The duck gave an appreciative quack and half closed its eyes. "But I need to know if you can't stick around England."

"No. I can't."

Sora nodded.

Goofy was taking an interest in Riku now, leaning his long neck around the table and snorting through his huge black nose at him. He hadn't much experience with dogs, so he awkwardly patted Goofy's head in the hopes it would appease him and make him turn away.

It only encouraged him. He sniffed Riku's palm and then pressed his cold nose against it. Riku let him stay there, turning back to Sora.

"Why are _you_ sailing into a storm?"

Sora glanced around at the noisy tavern. Everyone seemed caught up in their own tiny bubbles – not even looking at them. Then he leant his head forward and lowered his voice.

"They say there's treasure in the eye of a storm." And at Riku's blank look, he continued. "Blessed treasure – with heavenly power – that can perform miracles."

It sounded like a load of old rubbish to Riku. The kind of things young boys tell each other about a lump at the end of the garden that turns out to be the stump of a rose bush. But Sora's eyes were shining. Well – he certainly didn't act his age. There was no way he was old enough to be in here either, and he looked too baby faced to be on his own. Maybe he was just a boy playing at being a Captain. Maybe his parents would come along and Riku would be out of a ship.

"I don't suppose anyone knows what this treasure is?"

Sora shrugged. He was still bright and eager. "Some say a staff, some say a box – all of the stories differ. But the miracles part is true."

"And, of course, there's the glory that comes along with finding it." It was obvious to Riku that the main reward was reputation. Reputation and honour, the two most important things to a man, according to his mother. His mother was always right.

Sora's gaze drew distant then. Seemed to fix on something behind Riku.

Then he took a breath. "Something like that."

He had a habit of dropping his 't's and making Riku painfully aware of every one he pronounced. Painfully aware of just how much he didn't fit in here.

Then Sora was back – the same bubbly grinning boy that he had been thirty seconds ago. No, not boy. Pirate. This boy was a pirate, even if he didn't look like one.

"We'll sleep on my ship tonight, aye?"

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Is it just a canoe with a flagpole sticking out of it?"

It was easy to tease him, actually. It was easy to talk to this boy. He had never felt like that. There had never been anyone he felt this at ease with. And this was a boy he had known for five minutes. A pirate he had known for five minutes.

A pirate who was pouting at him – blowing his cheeks out and pursing his lips. It was utterly childish, and yet Riku could feel his breath hitching at the sight.

"My ship is a beauty," Sora said. "A lady of the sea."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"What are you going to give me when you're wrong, Riii-kuuu?" Sora drew out the name, leaning forwards again and resting his cheek in his hand. Impossibly blue eyes studied Riku's face, and smiled at what they saw there.

"I - I don't have any money on me." It was true. If he didn't have any money, he couldn't be robbed of it.

The pout deepened. "What about a favour, then?"

Riku's heart dropped. "A favour?"

That was the one thing Sora seemed oblivious to. He pointed at Riku, still grinning from ear to ear. "If you lose, you have to swab the deck for a week!"

The duck quacked loudly, and Sora turned to it.

"I am _not_ just saying that because I don't want to!"

The duck quacked indignantly again, giving another snap at Sora's fingers.

Riku raised an eyebrow. "You...can talk to them?"

"Well, no." He crossed his arms over his chest and leant back against the booth. "But it's more fun to pretend that I can."

It was Riku's turn to lean forward, examining the boy for red-rimmed eyes and slurred speech. "And you're _sure _you're not drunk."

"Can't afford it." At Sora's words, Goofy sneezed, abandoning Riku's limp hand to poke at Sora's side. "Well, apart from this one. But that's the only one I had, I swear." Goofy's nose poked him again. "And, we have a bottle of brandy eft, but that's for a special occasion."

"Like finding treasure?" Riku guessed.

"Oh, aye." It seemed like Sora, the duck and the dog were looking him up and down as one. "You'll fit in just fine."

Heat crawled up his neck and cheeks and he looked away. There was a moment of silence, and then he couldn't resist it – he looked back at Sora. The pirate was staring at him again – seeming to take in every detail as if they would never see each other again.

The moment dragged on and Riku's heart began racing. He needed to break this – think of something to say – one of them had to say something – they couldn't just _stare _like this. In public.

Sora's hands slammed down on the table. The duck squawked indignantly, ruffling it's feathers, and Goofy's ears went back.

"Right – let's head off. Big day tomorrow!" Sora scooped a still protesting Donald up in one hand, and tugged Goofy down from the booth by his collar with the other.

Riku followed, worming his way around people covered in grime, blood, and beer, until they were out in the night air.

Bristol looked beautiful at night. It was still Summer and the night sky was dark blue, speckled with stars. The streetlamps had been lit casting bright yellow against blue so that the wet flagstones glowed. The air was warm, but not humid, and the seagulls cawed to each other from the tops of the buildings.

The river lapped at the hulls of the ships as they passed; they were all lined up like children waiting to go into assembly. Huge things with spidery masts and vast hulls watched them as they walked by, their boots tapping loudly against the stones.

Sora stopped in front of a ship, tugging a piece of wood he'd kept on the side of the dock and flopping it across to it. It wobbled alarmingly and creaked in protest when he stood on it.

Riku looked up, and realised that he would be swabbing the deck for a good week. It was a fine ship – with two tall masts and a sizeable deck. It was painted a bright red, rimmed with gold, which made it very handsome indeed. This was a Brig – and he couldn't believe that the two of them would be able to sail it on their own.

"Are you coming?" Sora called. He was hopping down onto the deck, letting Donald go as he did. Goofy was plodding up the makeshift gangplank as though this was all normal.

Riku paused. Was he? He didn't know this boy. This was a stupid decision. It was a really, really stupid thing to do. To go sailing into the eye of a storm on a huge ship with a mad boy, a duck and a dog.

But he'd have to wait a week otherwise. And he was no fool – he knew that not a lot of crews would want a sixteen year old who'd never worked a day in his life. He was useless to anyone else. This might be his only chance to get away.

And he had to get away. Now. No matter what. No matter if this was the stupidest thing he'd ever done. Maybe he needed to be a bit stupid. His mother wouldn't have approved – which only confirmed that he was doing the right thing.

"I'll hold it for you if you're scared." Sora's teeth glinted in the moonlight.

"I'm not scared." It was as much for himself as it was for Sora.

Riku stepped onto the gangplank. It creaked and groaned at every move he made and he took large, leaping steps to get it over with as quickly as possible.

Then he was standing on the deck. The deck of a swaying ship, with water lapping at the sides. There was the sudden urge to laugh. This was happening. He was doing this. Riku was running away.

Sora grunted as he pulled the gangplank up behind them, cutting them off securely from the rest of the dock.

"Is there something you'd like to say about my Highwind?" He wiped dirt from his hands onto tight breeches. Riku tore his gaze away, back at the stars.

"I've seen bigger," Riku shrugged.

Sora scoffed. "Like you've ever been on another - your legs are wobbling like a jellyfish."

Riku put a hand on the railing to steady himself, concentrating on making his legs stop shaking.

"Don't worry, you'll get your sea legs as you're cleaning my deck for me." Sora was already treading across the boards as though it was simple to the back of the ship.

This was a very bad idea, Riku decided. Why had be ever thought that it was a good idea to be on a ship? He'd never been on one before and he couldn't even standon one when it was safely docked.

Goofy nudged past him, and Donald was fluttering after Sora, so he followed the two animals. It took him twice as long to get over to the cabin door. An empty lantern hung by the door. The wick in the candle inside had been swallowed by the wax.

"There's enough room for us both in here," Sora's voice called from inside, echoing like he was already deep in the belly of the ship.

Riku stepped in just as a match fizzed to life. There was a collection of tall candles sat on a scrubbed wooden table, surrounded by torn maps and a broken compass. Two sorry-looking chairs flanked it, trembling in the middle of the room. There was a wide window at one end, letting the starlight drift through the glass. Clothes fell out of a large trunk sat under the window, and were scattered around the floor with books and maps. There were two hammocks - one hung either side of the room. The one on the left had two large lumps of hay underneath it - which Donald and Goofy settled themselves into without question.

Two hammocks. If Sora hadn't been expecting company - he had wanted it.

"There's not much point inyou sleeping down in the hold all by yourself," Sora said, sitting on the left hammock and making it swing alarmingly. He was already kicking his boots off by the heel, stretching his arms up and yawning. "You don't mind, do you?"

Riku did mind. He minded very much. He was used to sharing a room - but not with a pirate, a dog and a duck. The situation was bizarre, and this boy was pretty, and he should just leave. He should forget about all of this and just go home.

But then he thought of returning to his mother. He thought of returning for the Summer break. July and August.

It was unthinkable.

Riku sat down on the hammock and started untying his own boot laces.

He looked up again to see Sora staring at him, from over the candle. It made his hair and eyelashes look inky black, and his skin glow gold like an apparition.

"You sure about this?"

Riku took a breath. There was no turning back now. "Yes."

"Aye." For just a moment, Sora paused. Then he grinned, and winked, and said, "goodnight."

The candle was blown out, leaving them in silvery darkness.

Riku lay back in the hammock, his heart racing out of his chest as he heard Sora pad back to his own hammock and get in. The smell of smoke was drifting in the air, like a blown-out birthday candle. That _wink. _That crooked smile. Riku was playing with fire. He should have chosen a large crew, with people who wouldn't look twice at him, who were beaten and bloodied so they looked more like oddly shaped vegetables than people. Not the pretty boy who talked to his pets and winked at Riku. It was just asking for trouble.

Now that he lay down, covering himself over as best as he could with his cloak and the musty blanket left there, he couldn't believe this was happening. He had really done it – he had ran. And he wasn't going back. He actually _dared _to escape. And was playing with fire as soon as he did.

But this was better than a crew of mean, twisted people. Surely it would be. They would look for him on the big ships, not a small brig sailed by a boy no one seemed to look twice at. This was anonymity. He would just have to ignore Sora's – everything.

The barely formed plan in his mind lulled him into a half-sleep. The hammock rocked gently with the lull of the river and it was absurdly comforting. Sora's heavy breathing on the other side of the cabin was calming too, in a way.

Then he felt something small jump in the hammock with him.

He froze. Tiny feet were scurrying up him – catching him in the sensitive areas of his stomach. Something small, with a long tail.

"Sora," he hissed. "_Sora!"_

"Mmm?" He heard Sora shuffle in his hammock, and yawn loudly.

"There's a rat."

"What?"

"A rat. There's a rat in my hammock. Aren't they only supposed to be in the bilge?"

"Only the lowliest rats. The peasant rats. And there are no rats in my bilge, thank you very much," Sora grumbled, and then there was another fizz as he lit a match. He stepped closer to Riku and he gritted his teeth as he looked down at the small creature on his chest. "Oh, it's just the King."

Riku blinked at the mouse. It sat on him comfortably, tail curled around it like a tiny pink sausage. It's feet were the same pink. The rest of it was as black as soot – including it's gleaming eyes.

"The King?" he repeated. He hoped his voice didn't sound like a squeak – it wasn't like he was a lady who had found a mouse in her teacup.

"King Mickey." Sora scratched the mouse behind a large, papery ear and it squeaked appreciatively. "He must have taken a liking to you."

The mouse was already curling up on Riku's chest – just over his heart. It would have been easy to move – to sit up and push the tiny creature off of him, but he couldn't bring himself to. It's heart was over his heart, thrumming away at one hundred times faster than his.

"He's a mouse, not a rat," Sora said, wiggling the match in the air to extinguish it.

"That's okay then," Riku muttered.

Sora yawned loudly again – Riku could see his silhouette stretching up. "Well, yeah."

He was breathing heavily again within moments. Underneath him, Goofy was snoring loudly, and Donald was making strange, quivery sounds.

King Mickey was the only one who slept silently. A warm weight on Riku, that was actually comforting. For some reason, he felt like this tiny mouse understood everything, and was telling him to stay. It was telling him he had to do this. He had to run. And Sora was the best choice.

That was probably just wishful thinking.


	2. Chapter 2

The Medallion

Riku woke before Sora.

He was used to waking up at dawn. It was the only way to have any time to himself.

King Mickey had curled up by his head at some point in the knight, and he gently untangled the sleeping mouse from strands of his hair. He would have to find some way of tying it back – and soon.

The cabin had red, woven rugs on the floor and red, velvet curtains that hadn't been undrawn before they went to bed. It made the whole place glow orange. It really was a mess, with pencils and sea charts and compasses scattered everywhere, as well as the majority of Sora's belongings. There was a golden seal on the side, embossed on the bottom with a coat of arms Riku didn't recognise. It must have been stolen.

Sora was not a graceful sleeper. One leg hung out of the hammock, kicking Goofy behind the ear, and one arm was over his forehead, the other stretched out and hanging in mid-air. His mouth was half-open too, but at least he wasn't drooling.

Riku didn't mean to stare. But then Sora shifted his arm and tilted his head to the side, just as Riku sat up. Sora's dark hair was even more of a mess and it was at complete contrast with the look of peace on his face. The early morning sun made his brown skin _glow _all the more, even if there was dirt smeared across his forehead and cheekbones. Made his dark eyelashes cast long shadows over his cheeks. Made his mouth and cheeks look ever so slightly pink. Beautiful, really, was the way to describe it.

His own face felt warm. The warmth spread all the way up to from his chest, bringing his heart with it so that it pounded in his mouth.

He needed air. He was drowning in here.

As he stood, King Mickey jumped to attention. It blinked up at Riku with those bright, shining eyes, looking from him to Sora as if it could understand everything that was happening. And then, without a moment's hesitation, ran up the sleeve of Riku's blazer as if it was a ladder.

It was instinct to bat the tiny creature away from him. He'd never been a fan of scurrying mice – but there was something about this one that he couldn't say no to. The longer that he looked at those eyes, and those ears and that tiny, twitching nose, the more he felt himself become attached to it.

No, not it. He. Sora had called the mouse a he. Normally, it would be silly to do so, but this mouse _seemed _clever.

So he let King Mickey stay perched on his shoulder as he crept out of the cabin, leaving his boots behind.

The ship was a bright crimson in the daylight, the gold of the prow glinting like the sun had crash-landed onto the front of the ship.

He could leave. This was his last chance, before they set sail – before Sora woke up and smiled at him – he could go back. He could make up a story about being kidnapped by pirates and maybe his mother would be so relieved that he was all right that she would –

The King's tiny paws dug into his shoulder, like the mouse could tell what he was thinking.

"I know," he murmured, starting up the stairs at the back of the ship slowly. "I know that no matter what happened to me now it wouldn't change her. It wouldn't change them."

The mouse sniffed at his ear, and he realised how ridiculous this was. One night on this ship – one night knowing this boy, and he was already talking to animals.

No, he was simply thinking out loud, he told himself. He hadn't been talking to the mouse. The mouse wasn't trying to tell him anything. The mouse was sniffing his ear and wondering if it was something to eat.

Riku was stood at the back of the ship now, looking out over the other side of the river Avon. The water was dark green murk below him. He felt like that – like he needed a good wash already. He wasn't used to sleeping without changing clothes – without getting ready for bed at all.

And he was still wearing his uniform. He knew he would have to ditch it as soon as possible. As if everything else didn't seem out of place about him. His hands fumbled with the cravat, and King Mickey had to scramble desperately around his hands as he undid his blazer and waistcoat too. His shirt and breeches at least, were plain enough.

Bundling the three garments into one, he tossed the whole thing overboard, watching white and blue disappear into the murk.

And then he took a deep breath out. It felt like he'd removed shackles – or had at least unlocked them.

The wind was sharp this morning, whipping the river into tiny waves and spraying Riku's hair against his face. Mickey was shivering, and, after a few moments, he curled himself underneath Riku's collar to hide from the weather.

He _really _didn't like mice. It brought back memories of being small and hearing them scurry underneath the boy's beds in the dark. The thought of the little feet and the naked tails on his skin had made him toss and turn all night.

But there was something to be said for having a small animal on his shoulder. He wasn't alone, and the creature was a shred of warmth in the face of a chilly morning. The mouse made him feel like some sort of fantasy hero – they always had animal companions with them.

And was this not an adventure?

He stared out at the sandstone buildings around them. They were all so _grand_ from the outside – but he suspected on the inside they were damp and cramped. It, at least, made for a nice view as he let the decision sink in.

He supposed he was a pirate now.

That should have been a much scarier thought.

He wasn't sure how long it was before he heard Sora stumbling up the stairs. But suddenly he was leaning – almost crashing – into the bannister with so much force Riku thought he was going to go overboard.

Sora was staring out at the docks too, his bedhead wilder than ever.

"You're still here," Sora muttered. As if he was surprised – as if he was used to people walking out on him. Riku wondered what that would be like – to be left behind instead of held back.

"I lost a bet," he replied.

Sora laughed then – a sound that was too bright and merry for the morning. A few nearby seagulls fluttered their wings, glaring at them with red-rimmed eyes.

"And you've made a friend." Sora nodded to the mouse tucked into Riku's shoulder.

He shrugged, which dislodged King Mickey and made him curl back up further under the collar. "Why's he got that name?"

"Because I used to have a friend called Michael, and we called him Mickey for short."

"No, why is he a King?"

"Oh." There was that lopsided grin. "Because he bosses Donald and Goofy around."

"You're joking."

Sora's eyes glittered. "You'll see."

Riku paused. Sora was shorter than him, by a good deal. It made him look younger than ever, though he wasn't scrawny.

"Forgive me for asking," Riku started. "Because I know we've only just met-"

"And yet you've already spent the night in my rooms, _Master Riku_." Sora was just teasing, but it made his heart flutter in panic. He knew he went red at the drop of the hat, and there was the blush now, crawling its way up his cheeks. It didn't mean anything, he told himself. This wasn't polite society anymore – it was banter.

It may even have been flirting.

"How – how does someone like you acquire a ship like this?"

Sora turned then, so that his back was against the railing. He tipped his head back to the sky, a smile playing on his lips.

"Well, that's not as interesting a story as you would think," he said. "We were playing cards – speculation – and I-"

Sora trailed off as a small, furry creature pulled its way onto the railing. Riku felt himself tense. More tiny paws and naked tails. More beady eyes and a twitching nose. No rats in the bilge indeed.

"It's Little Chief," Sora said, bluntly.

"More animals." Riku wanted to sigh. It seemed like more of a zoo than a ship. "You have more crew members than you first told me about."

Sora wasn't listening. His eyes were on the creature. The rat nimbly ran along the rail of the ship, coming to a halt in front of them and looking up at Sora. It was carrying something in its tiny human-like hands. A small, gold medallion.

"Oh blimey, Little Chief." Sora took the medallion quickly. It was the first time Riku had seen him look anything other than carefree. His body had gone tight and his face was pale. He licked his lips, offering a hand to Little Chief to jump onto. "We need to get you in the cabin and smartly now."

"What is it?"

Sora already had a grip on his arm, pulling him back down the stairs. King Mickey dug his paws into his shoulder uncomfortably.

"You said you were on the run," Sora said, kicking the door of the cabin open and pulling Riku outside.

"Well, yes, but-"

Sora poked his head out of the cabin, eyes on the docks, before he closed the door. "Then you need to hide."

"Why?"

He didn't get a reply. Sora was kicking up clothes and scattered books feverishly. Little Chief had jumped from his hand onto the table, knocking the compasses from it. Riku could only blink in astonishment as the rat began _rolling up the map_. _Actually_ rolling it, with his tiny paws.

Impossible.

"Riku." Sora's voice was commanding, and he found himself snapping to attention. There was a hole in the corner of the cabin. It was in the corner, of the cabin – a narrow, black space that stretched into the floor. "Do you trust me?"

"Tell me what's happening." Riku hoped to match that tone of authority. It was the tone everyone but him seemed to have mastered.

"Do you trust me?"

Sora's eyes were blazing blue fire. They were wide.

Scared. He was scared about something.

Riku nodded.

And stepped into the narrow space. It was down a step, partly into the hold of the ship. The wood looked about to break under him, and there was scarcely room for his shoulders, but he managed.

Sora bit his lip as he looked down. And then he nodded and closed the compartment back up, leaving Riku in the darkness. With King Mickey wiggling on his shoulders. He squeezed his eyes shut – concentrating on the sound of the water on the outside of the ship. He was on a ship. He wasn't in the dorms anymore.

There was a loud shout from outside the ship.

He heard Sora curse – heard the sound of him dropping something, and then the slam of the cabin door. Donald was quacking rapidly and he could just imagine the duck hopping up and down in frustration. It was what he felt like doing.

What in the world was that medallion?

They couldn't have found him yet. He'd been careful – he'd written letters so that it would take weeks for them to realise that he wasn't in either of the places he should be. They couldn't have figured it out so quickly.

There were heavy footfalls outside the cabin. People were coming on board. It sounded like a whole hoard of elephants. He opened his eyes and found a narrow shaft of light by his head. If he tilted it, he got a glimpse of the untidy cabin.

"Captain Barbosa!" He heard Sora's voice. Slightly too high and slightly too tight. "I had no clue you were in Bristol."

"Captain Sora!" Another man called, though it was clear he meant the 'captain' to be mocking. As if Sora was a child with a toy boat. "I'm sure you had at least _one _clue, am I right?"

Riku strained his ears to hear the conversation. Sora had left the cabin door open and he was stood in the archway, looking as though he was trying to block as much of it from view.

"Well-"

"I thought I told you to keep that dirty, thieving bilge rat off of my ship." The man's voice was like a knife to the throat, full of a threat. Little Chief seemed to sense he was the topic of conversation, and scrambled from the table, taking refuge behind Goofy's bed. The dog was fast asleep, though Donald was still ruffling his feathers.

Sora took an unwilling step back into the cabin, and Riku got a glimpse of the man he was speaking to. He was wide, and hulking, though dressed impeccably, with a quilted overcoat and embroidered waistcoat. Next to him, Sora's plain, torn clothes looked all the scruffier. There was even a huge feather on the man's hat. He was the very idea of a pirate – with a scruffy beard and unkempt, long hair – like he'd stepped straight out of a story book.

"Little Chief just likes shiny things," Sora said. "He gave it me back-"

"Do you hear that, lads?" The pirate – Barbosa, Riku guessed – turned back, laughing. "He named the mangy thing! Little chief!"

There was a raucous of laughter from outside the cabin. The _crew _was onboard, Riku realised. His heart was racing. They were trapped.

"You named your monkey," Sora muttered, but he seemed different now. His shoulders were hunched defensively, like he was ready for a fight.

"It was an _insult _to another one of _your _thieving friends." Barbosa jabbed a finger at Sora's chest, but he stepped back before it made contact. He glanced back at the gaggle of men outside. "Sorry for bringing them all with me. I was wondering how many of us it would take before your ship sank."

"The Highwind is no schooner, Captain." Sora was fishing in his pocket. "There's your medallion. It won't happen again."

The man swiped the tiny gold coin from Sora's palm. Sora's shoulders twitched ever so slightly. Riku recognised that twitch. It was the twitch of someone who expected a slap.

"Could have cursed us all over again." The coin disappeared into Barbosa's coat. Riku frowned. Cursed? Surely that was a figure of speech – or paranoia. "But that's not what I wanted a word with you about."

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" Sora asked. He was standing in front of the collection of animals, as if it would shield them from view.

Barbosa sat down heavily in one of the chairs, kicking his les out to take as much room up as possible. Sora stayed where he was. This was an insult, Riku knew, but Sora was taking it. This didn't seem like the same boy he'd met last night. This looked like a boy getting scolded by the headmaster.

"There was a boy in the pub last night-"

"How incredibly unusual," Sora said. He received a sharp look and swallowed.

"A boy that definitely wasn't meant to be in these ends. Wore a Harrow uniform. Ring any bells?"

The uniform he'd just thrown overboard appeared in Riku's mind. He bit his lip. King Mickey's tiny paws really were digging into him now.

"Not a one." Sora didn't even waver, though Riku knew he must have seen.

"That's interesting." Barbosa paused, running a finger down a mark in the table. "Because a few of my men saw him coming aboard your…sailboat."

The tips of Sora's ears had gone pink. He looked down, letting colour flood his cheeks.

"Okay, you caught me." Riku's heart sunk at those words, only to be replaced with fury. He'd expected better – he didn't expect Sora to give him up at the first sign of trouble. "He _was _here. He left before I woke up."

There were sniggers from the door. The other men were listening and Sora turned from pink to red. But the anger was disappearing from Riku. Maybe he should have been embarrassed at the obvious insinuation, but he couldn't bring himself to be. Sora really _was _going to cover for him.

"It would be an idea to be more subtle about your-" Barbosa let the word hang in the air like a throwing knife. "_Inclinations_. Or you'll be dancing with the hempen jig for the wrong reason."

"I know." There was a slight edge to Sora's voice. Then he gave a small smile, tucking his chin in slightly so that he looked bashful. "But he was pretty, and we were drunk."

A loud 'hm' nose came from the back of Barbosa's throat. "Well if you ever bump into your pretty boy again, I'd keep hold of him. Boy like that – the ransom would be huge. Every ship 'round here's keeping an eye out. Nice easy money holding a rich kid like that for a while."

"Aye," Sora said. "Thanks for the warning."

Barbosa stood, just as heavily, making the whole ship sway. "Well then, I'll leave your to your-" Again, he let the word rest for just a moment. "Crew, Captain."

The men outside began their chorus of laughter again as they were joined by the captain. A few names were called out to Sora – none of them pleasant. It was clear they had heard every word and were enjoying seeing just how small and red he could make himself.

The cabin door slammed shut. As soon as it did, Donald quacked indignantly and ran forward, whereas Goofy raised a sleepy head.

The elephants chorus of footsteps started up again and seemed to go on for an age. Riku was left staring at Sora, stood in the cabin with a foot out to stop Donald from charging straight into the door and a hand on Goofy's head. He looked younger than ever – looked more like a boy playing pretend than ever.

Riku's chest felt tight. Without thinking about it, he raised a hand to King Mickey, who sniffed his fingers, then let him touch his tiny head.

Sora was probably the worst pirate he had ever seen.

As soon as the voices had retreated all the way down the dock, Sora gave Goofy's head a final pat and stepped forward to free Riku from his hiding place. If it had been last night, he would have offed the boy a hand up. Maybe he would have winked.

But he couldn't quite bring himself to. His nerves were still jittery and he hated that. Riku had seen. He had seen and heard everything. It wasn't charming that Sora had a small boat full of oddly named animals, it was embarrassing. No doubt he really would be leaving now – now that he knew that Sora could hardly call himself a pirate.

Riku stepped up into the cabin without a word.

And as Sora started to move the false door back into place, Riku's hands appeared on it. Pushing it back alongside him. His heart stuttered. Riku wasn't shouting. He wasn't looking at him in disgust.

He wasn't leaving.

Sora chanced a glance upward. Instead of pity – well, there was some pity – but instead of all pity, there was – curiosity.

"Well." Sora forced a smile onto his face. Forced his tone to be bright and happy. Ships run on happy faces. "If we want to sail right into that storm, we'd best start setting sail."

"Sora." Riku's voice was gentle. He ignored it.

"That's Captain Sora, to you. Come on, Master Riku – shake a leg!" He opened the cabin door, letting Donald out. He fluttered his wings and let out a flurry of quacks. Goofy just plodded out, leaning his heavy body against Sora's. He gave him a scratch behind the eyes, then began untying the sails. He turned to see Riku following him, those sea-green eyes still watching him. "I never thought to ask where you were headed."

"It doesn't matter." Riku replied, stepping up to the mast and untying slowly. "As far away from England as possible."

"The Caribbean?" Sora suggested. "Australia? The Middle East?"

"Yes." There was a distant look in Riku's eye. "All of them."

Sora found himself grinning. Genuinely grinning.

"Aye," he said. "I could do that."

They let the ship lose and were out of the dock by mid-morning. It was simple enough to head down the Avon. The wind was fair, and the weather had warmed up – the sun warm on the back of Sora's neck. It still felt cold to him. He was used to the _sun_ – used to almost unbearable, unrelenting heat, not watery sunshine.

Riku came to stand by him at the helm mid-morning. King Mickey had stayed nestled in the collar of his school shirt, and every so often, he would touch him to check he was still there. Was still real. Sora felt like doing the same to him.

Riku hadn't left.

They stood in silence for a while, watching Donald chase Goofy angrily around the deck in front of them after another tail sniffing incident. Or admiring the sandstone buildings slowly going by as they cut into the Bristol channel, joining up with the River Severn.

"Wouldn't be sorting the sails if you were on Barbosa's crew," Sora said. He wasn't sure why, it was like he had something to prove. He had many things to prove, but it wasn't like he could do any of it. "He'd have you swabbing below decks for months before you got to see the sun."

Riku took his time in replying. Now that it was warmer, the pink had gone from his cheeks. Sora risked a sideways glance. He really _was _pretty – that part hadn't been a lie. With that long, straight nose, he could rival Byron.

"How did you make such a charming acquaintance?"

Which actually made Sora snort. It was easy for him to laugh, easier than for most people, but with Riku he hardly seemed to be able to stop himself. He wasn't even _that _funny.

"I worked on his crew for a bit." Sora kept it vague. "Years ago, now."

Riku seemed to be waiting for more, and when he didn't get it, he cleared his throat. "You were saying – before, about Speculation. And the Highwind."

"Yeah, I won her," Sora said. "I figured out how to hide aces in my sleeve that morning. I'd woken early and had nothing else to do. When we docked for the night, I challenged anyone I could in that pub to a game of cards. Most people didn't care to. I had no money, so, nothing to win from. Nobody wanted to steal lint from a kid. But then one guy did. He was from the East – his name was Yen Sid. When I demanded a game of cards, he just smiled and opened his hands – like this – and said he had no money, but he was willing to bet his ship."

"You conned an old man out of his ship?"

Sora bit his lip, turning the wheel ever so slightly. "He knew I had cheated. I'm sure he did. But he let me have it anyway. It was like – it was like he didn't care – like he wanted me to have it. When I told him what I wanted my own ship for, it was like I'd passed some kind of test."

Riku waited, again, for more, and didn't get any. Sora knew he was being unfair, but it went both ways. He'd only tell Riku so much as Riku told him. Barbosa had given the information about Harrow away, so it was only fair Sora gave him a _little bit _for free.

Harrow. He'd thought it last night, but now it was certain. This boy had ran from Harrow on the Hill. Surely that was unheard of. Surely most English men would give an arm and a leg to go there.

And Riku had left.

"We'll have to get you out of those clothes." Sora knocked the back of his hand against Riku's bicep. Lord, they were big. What did they _eat _at Harrow?

"Excuse me?" Riku's face went carnation pink. Sora pretended not to notice the insinuation.

"Much too loose to be out as sea. You'll get all tangled up in the rigging. I have some spares in my cabin you can try."

He stepped away from the wheel and Riku frowned at him.

"You can leave the helm?"

"Someone's been studying his ship words." Sora's stomach had settled enough to try for another smile. "Yeah, it's mostly straight from here."

So they headed back into the cabin, where they were met by Little Chief sat on the table. If a rat could tap his paws in impatience, he would be doing so. He was surrounded my grapes and cheese and crackers.

"Ah," Sora said. "Little Chief makes sure that I remember lunch."

Riku just blinked at him. Maybe it was remarkable, that a rat had such an affinity for food, but Little Chief was special. Anyone could see that.

He found the largest clothes he could and stepped outside to give him some privacy. He leant against the door of the cabin and felt his legs slide away from underneath him. He sat on the deck and ran his hands over his face. Riku had heard the whole thing.

Maybe he should just jump overboard now.

Both Donald and Goofy came up, Goofy nuzzling his cheek with a large, wet nose, and Donald picking at his bootlaces determinedly. He put a hand on both of them, feeling a warm buzz in his chest.

"I'm okay now," he muttered, and tried to mean it.

Riku opened the cabin door moments later and they exchanged the same bashful stare. The clothes were too small – showing much more of Riku's wrists and ankles than they decently should. Sora could see blue and purple veins in his wrists. His skin was so _pale _– it was like he was an ice sculpture.

"Ah. Well, we can try something else-"

"I think you're too small." Riku had the decency to look embarrassed about it, tugging at the cuffs of the shirt.

"How dare you speak to your Captain like that."

"My Captain is short," Riku amended. He held up a hand to measure Sora against himself, barely making it past his chest. Sora batted it down, feeling his cheeks burn.

"_You're _the one who's too tall."

Riku smiled then. _Almost _laughed. There was a twinkle in his eye that Sora hadn't seen before and his eyes caught on it. He still had a hand on Riku's wrist, but he hadn't pulled away. There were just there, staring at each other and both smiling with warm cheeks.

"About…" Riku took a breath. "You said, that we-"

Sora took his hand away. Shoved it back in his pocket and leant against the wall of the cabin. Like it didn't matter.

"Most pirates are," he said. "Well, some of them say it's just because there are no ladies around at sea, but that's just something to ease their conscience. It's not – generally – not seen as any different to when a man and a woman. Or a woman and a woman."

"That's – that can-?"

"Course it can." Sora bit his cheek to stop from laughing. Clearly Riku didn't have much experience with ladies. "Does it bother you, what I said? I thought it was the quickest lie."

Riku leant back against the cabin too, gingerly. "Thank you, for covering for me."

"Anytime," Sora said. He looked over Riku – took back in those ankles – those calves – and those arms one last time. He knew Riku noticed the lingered stare. But he was starting to suspect that Riku didn't mind. He hadn't left, he hadn't pulled away – something was there, definitely. But it was like a sparrow, it had to be approached with caution, or it would fly away. "There's some spare fabric below. It'd be easy to make clothes in a bigger size."

"Only girls sew." Riku snorted.

Donald let out a flurry of quacks then that sounded like laughter. Even Goofy's sneeze sounded like a guffaw.

Sora just raised an eyebrow and watched the blood drain from Riku's face.

"You don't – I mean –"

Oh, Sora did like this one. He absolutely loved teasing this one.

He let a smile spread across his face and made sure he sounded sweet when he asked, "isn't it about time you swabbed the deck?"


	3. Chapter 3

The Wayfinder

They didn't talk anymore about Barbossa's visit. They didn't talk about how every pirate in Bristol would be on the look-out for a boy with silver hair, that Riku was undeniably from one of the most prestigious schools in England, or that Sora was hardly a pirate at all.

Sora sewed at the helm and Riku swabbed the deck until it was shining. They were clear of England now, out at the open sea and this was the part Sora loved. To not have anything on the horizon line. To have everything on the horizon line.

He leant against the stern as he worked, just so he could watch Riku adjusting the sails. He'd tied his hair back with a piece of scrap cloth, so that it didn't always hang in his eyes. It was a good look on him. There was something about the small, silver ponytail that Sora couldn't take his eyes off.

His muscles worked as he pulled at the rope, which was actually just as mesmerising as the ponytail. If Sora wasn't careful, he'd be smitten within the week. It had only been two nights of knowing each other, and already he was falling fast.

When he'd first spotted Riku he'd been attracted to him, and nothing the boy did seemed to break that attraction. If he had at least pulled his hand quickly away from Sora's, hadn't let their touches last for more than a moment, then he could have suffered in unrequited peace.

The fact that he hadn't was enough to keep Sora frowning at the ceiling half the night.

If he had been drunk two days ago, it would have happened. He would have been bold enough to kiss the boy. But he hadn't, and he couldn't break that now. They were stuck in this question. This no man's land.

Donald quacked at him, and he leant down to tap him on the beak.

When he straightened up, he saw the other ship appearing on the horizon. It was cutting a fine figure through the water and Sora's heart jumped. Could be anyone – but mostly likely more people come to put him to shame.

"Should I go below?" Riku called up to him.

Sora shook his head. "They're coming into port. They won't have heard about you yet. Goofy! Spyglass!" It would have been perfect if the dog had gone bounding off straight away. Instead he had to lean over the rail. "Goofy, spyglass!"

Goofy was scratching his ear with his hind leg and staring into space. He tried again.

"_Goofy! Spyglass!"_

The dog finally lumbered into the cabin. It seemed like an age before he was trotting up the steps, a very salivary spyglass in his mouth.

Riku was laughing as Sora took it. They were rare, those laughs, but they were something. It was the laugh of someone who wasn't used to it – was just figuring out how they wanted theirs to sound.

"Shut your bone box." But Sora was grinning as he unfolded the object. He held it up to his eye to get a better look and his heart jumped again – but out of relief this time. It was a huge man of war, the hull looking more like dragon's scales than a ship, with a fantastic figurehead of a knight at the front. It was _Wayfinder_.

He could hardly wait for it to get close enough. He knew that Riku was watching him, wondering about the grin, but he didn't have the breath to exchange. His mind was way ahead of him – thinking forward to how much he had to tell everyone – how much he had to say.

Finally – _finally _it was close enough, and Sora ran forward to lift the white flag. He ran to the side of the ship, hands cupped around his mouth.

"Ahoy! _Ahoy_!"

There was movement on the ship. He squinted to see, then remembered the spyglass, and used it instead. There was a figure against the railing. Waving.

"Drop the anchor," Sora told Riku.

"You know them?" But Riku was already doing it.

"They're – yes. Yes, I know them."

They waited as the huge ship pulled up alongside them, and even longer as a gangplank was lowered between the two. There were a lot of calls from the other ship – but friendly calls – of "there's the little lion!" "It's Sora!" "The trusty old Highwind, eh?"

He grinned at Riku, who stared back with confusion and amazement.

And then _finally _there was a figure coming down the gangplank. A tall, broad man with long dark hair and skin only a few shades lighter than Sora's own. He was grinning too, and as soon as he stepped off the gangplank, his arms were outstretched.

Sora dived into them without a second thought, and felt the hum of laughter in the man's chest as he did. He held him tightly, squeezing his eyes shut just in case they thought to start crying.

"Terra!"

"Sora." Terra was catching his shoulders, pushing him away so that he could examine him from arm's length. "You know, I don't think you've grown an inch."

"Lies. Just last month I grew a whole half inch." He couldn't take the smile off of his face.

"Is that so?" Terra's hand was in his hair, ruffling it even more than the wind already had. That was when Terra's blue eyes found Riku, stood watching with a stunned expression.

"Terra – this is Riku, he's the latest member of my crew." Sora grabbed the boy's arm, dragging him closer. "The first _human_ member of my crew. Riku, this is Captain Terra. I – worked on his ship a while."

"Nice to meet you." Riku was like a debutante, holding his hand out and flashing a charming smile.

"Aye, you too." Terra was smiling slightly, like this was all amusing. He raised his eyebrows at Sora as he let Riku's hand go. The question was obvious. Sora tilted his head and shrugged, feeling his cheeks warm, but determined not to make a show of it.

"So, Sora finally caught himself a human," a female voice joined them, and the woman wasted no time in getting Sora into a headlock, ruffling her hand through his hair. "Unless you're really a werewolf, or something."

Riku half-laughed, looking mesmerised by her presence.

"And this is my co-Captain, Aqua." Terra said.

Sora wiggled his way out of Aqua's grip. He couldn't blame Riku – she was like no other woman he'd seen before. Willowy, with ivory skin and dark hair that seemed almost blue when the light hit it. She wore a lady's corset over a men's shirt, and had cut her petticoats so that they sat in a flounce around men's breeches. Truly the pinnacle of pirate fashion.

"And _there's _Goofy!" Aqua leapt forward, squishing the dogs face and scratching his chin. "Who's a good boy?"

"Pluto. Pluto is a good boy," Terra said. "Goofy is…"

Sora frowned. "Goofy is perfect."

Terra drew in a breath between his teeth. "He's slightly ugly."

"No."

"I have to agree," Riku muttered.

"Mutiny!" Sora cried. "Just because Goofy's not the prettiest dog in the world, doesn't mean that he's not a good boy."

"He's just…vacant." Riku was trying to be tactful, but he was looking at the dog with pity.

Sora pouted at him, but Terra was laughing. "This boy is welcome on my crew anytime."

So, Sora turned the pout on him too, crossing his arms against his chest.

Riku smiled at him, then turned back to Terra, looking mesmerised by pirates. Real pirates. "Who's Pluto?"

"_Our _dog. Retriever. Best of the best." Terra grinned. "Did you have any? Back home?"

Riku paused for just a second. Sora looked out at the sea, as if he was admiring the view, but his heart was pounding. Riku didn't talk about home. He hadn't let anything slip since coming aboard.

"We bred Dobermans," Riku said. "I hated them."

Apparently, all it took was a question to get him to open up. Incredible. Terra had known the boy ten seconds and had already gotten more out of him that Sora had got from even Barbossa.

"Really?" Terra was laughing.

"They were awful." Riku was serious. "Bred to be as vicious as they possibly could be."

Which only piqued Sora's curiosity further. It gave just a snippet of Riku's life – no doubt he had an estate. No doubt he spent the weekends deer hunting with those hounds.

But Riku hadn't pried into his life, so he didn't pry back.

"Whereas Goofy wouldn't harm a fly," he said.

"No, but that's because Goofy doesn't have the brain power to harm a fly," Terra said, which made Riku splutter with laughter.

"Oh, hush." Aqua said, standing up, but still scratching Goofy behind a long ear. She turned to Riku. "You wouldn't think it, but he's missed Sora terribly."

"Missed seeing just how easy the half pint is to rile up," Terra muttered.

Sora glared, but he lost some of his intensity when he saw Riku biting his lips. His eyes were shining as he looked to Sora. Eyes just the colour of the sea, with silver strands like starlight threatening to hide them.

"Why don't we all sit down for a glass of brandy?" Aqua suggested.

"I don't-"

"We brought some." Terra drew a bottle full of dark liquid out of his satchel, smiling sympathetically. "We guessed you had more important things to buy."

They headed into the cabin, and Sora spent a rapid five seconds trying to kick all of the clothes on the floor into one corner. There was already an improvement in the tidiness since Riku had come aboard – he had sorted the maps and books into neat, tidy piles and tossed out the broken compasses. It was _almost _respectable in here.

Little Chief was already on the table, sleeping soundly next to a hunk of bread.

"So, you didn't get rid of that rat yet." Terra sat down on one of the spindly chairs carefully, unstopping the brandy.

"Little Chief is a part of the crew."

"It's the only thing that reminds him to eat," Riku said.

Sora shook his head at him. "Mutiny."

But Terra and Aqua were laughing. Aqua even held her fingers out for the rat to sniff, which he did appreciatively, then rubbed his head against her fingertips.

"Where are you headed?" Sora asked, perching on his own hammock. To his surprise, Riku perched next to him, setting the whole thing rocking gently, and leaving the other seat for Aqua. They were never normally this close. They had stayed in their own hammocks – their own sides of the cabin, since they had set sail. If he focused, he could distinguish a faint perfume on Riku – it made his heart quiver.

"Back to whatever port will take us." Terra took a swig from the bottle. "There's a huge-" he saw the look on Sora's face. "But you already know there's a storm coming, don't you?"

"It's where we're headed."

Aqua frowned. "Sora-"

"The note," he said. "It's a full moon, and-"

She shook her head. "It's madness."

"I know it's dangerous."

"It's a death sentence," Terra snapped.

Sora swallowed. Riku's knee knocked against his and he focused on trying to convince himself that it was an accident.

When he didn't respond, Terra continued, pointing at Riku. "Does he know? Do you know what you're sailing into?"

Riku nodded.

Terra shook his head, and a drop of brandy fell from the bottle. Little Chief darted across the table to lick it up.

"It's going to be – your ship won't be able to take it, Sora. It's too small," Terra continued.

"And where am I going to find a bigger ship? How will I get a bigger ship? It's not like anyone else will-"

"No one else is stupid enough to sail headfirst into a _storm_!" He turned back to Riku, who was sat very still. Very still and very straight like he was trying to ignore there was an argument happening. "I thought you were sensible – why would you agree to this?"

"I had to get out of England," Riku said. "As soon as possible."

"_Christ_." Terra sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. "_Teenagers_. I'm glad you're not on _my _ship."

"Terra," Aqua spoke softly.

"There's no teenagers allowed on your ship?" Sora asked. Aqua gave him a warning glance, but he was feeling frustration curling in his stomach. He was tired of not being listened to.

"No."

"Not even _one_?"

"_Sora_." Aqua's tone was a warning now, too.

Terra gave another heavy sigh and looked up. His eyes had something dangerous in them.

"If there was any chance that he was at the centre of a storm, would you sail into it?" Sora asked.

Aqua just gave him a look. A haunted look that agreed with him. Terra continued staring at him for a long time, but then said, under his breath, "we have a bigger ship."

"I have to try," Sora's voice was almost a whisper.

Silence settled over them. Riku's knee knocked against his again. Sora knew he was desperate for an explanation. He knew there was so much more of this conversation than they were saying. But he kept quiet.

Then Aqua took a breath and said, "Terra, are you going to drink all of that or share it with the rest of us?"

Terra looked down at the bottle as though he had forgotten he had been holding it. Then he handed it to Aqua without a word. She took a long swig, then handed it to Sora.

"I thought you said glass?" Riku asked.

Sora glanced at him. His cheeks were pink, though he was trying hard to look casual. It only made things worse – the three of them snickered at the question.

"That's just an expression," Sora said. He paused to take a swig. It burnt the back of his throat pleasantly. "It's fine. Just give it a wipe."

He used the cuff of his coat to wipe the top of the bottle, not breaking eye contact, before he held it out to Riku. It was taken from him gingerly, their fingers brushing against each other's. Sora twitched his slightly, just to make the touch last longer.

Riku didn't look at him as he raised the bottle. Sora suspected he had his thumb over the mouth anyway.

The storm cloud had passed.

"So fill me in," Sora said. "Where have you been and what have you been up to?"

"Aqua has been courting the idea of getting her head chopped off." Terra raised his hands in the air, like he was the only sensible one.

Aqua's cheeks flushed a carnation pink – the same colour as her lips as she took another swig from the bottle. She tapped her nails on the side.

"Only in France," she said. "And I'm part French anyway, so I can't imagine they would care much. It's a different world."

"What did you do?" Riku looked entranced. As Sora raised the bottle, he chanced a glance over at him from the corner of his eye. His eyes were alight – like he was staring at a fantasy come to life.

Maybe he did like women. Or maybe he liked pirates.

Sora passed the brandy over. Riku didn't wipe it clean.

"Nothing much," Aqua huffed, glancing over at Terra. "I may have spent a night in Versailles and that may have led to me spending the evening in a very pretty young lady's boudoir."

"A lady engaged to the Prince," Terra added.

"French Kings have mistresses, why can't the Princesses?" Aqua asked.

"Hear hear!" Sora called. "A toast to Lady Aqua."

She laughed at that, tipping the bottle back and taking a longer drink than was strictly polite. Sora laughed too, but mainly at the shock on Riku's face. He looked as though he had been slapped with a dead codfish.

Oh, he had been right in the pub. This one was the right one. This one was fun to introduce to his world.

And when Riku caught his eye and smiled sheepishly, he knew that it was the right thing to do. Riku loved this. He fit in here. This was the world he belonged to, the one free from society.

Sora paused the bottle over, knowing that he was all bright smile and bright eyes.

Riku's hand closed around his as he took it. And Sora didn't think he was stoppering it anymore.

"And even if it was for just one night." Aqua leant back, wistful. "I'm happy to stay Cinderella's mysterious rendezvous."

"Your Romantic is showing, Aqua." Terra rolled his eyes.

"You're just jealous she didn't choose you."

"I – wasn't interested."

Aqua raised her hands, and her eyebrows to the ceiling. "Sure, whatever you say."

Sora laughed, and Riku followed suit. They more they drank, the more they lightened up. As if they didn't speak about the storm anymore, then it wasn't a problem. As though Terra had won the argument.

But nothing could change Sora's mind about this.

The clothes were finished the next afternoon. There was a golden light that turned the ocean into a glittering sky of stars, and made Sora look like he belonged in Olympus. It made his skin glow and his hair glow and his impossibly blue eyes stand out all the more.

He tossed the bundle at Riku.

"There. The _girl _has finished sewing your clothes, Master Riku."

Riku managed to catch them without fumbling too badly. They didn't catch him in the face at least.

Sora was sat on the rail of the ship, close enough that he could adjust the wheel with his boot if he needed to. The other leg hung over the side.

"And why am I _Master _Riku when we're the same age?" he asked, to distract from the fact that the clothes were well-made. That for two days work, they looked professional. He'd spent more on less.

"Because _I _have the Captain's hat." Sora tilted the clothing in question, casting his face into shadow. It made him look dangerous – made his teeth glint, and Riku's heart flutter.

"It'll be too small for your head if you carry on like that."

"Save the lectures on pride for Harrow, _Master _Riku."

They both froze. It had slipped out of Sora's mouth as a jibe so easily, but they didn't talk about that. That was the one thing they never mentioned.

"Try them," Sora said, instead, nodding his head to the bundle in Riku's arms.

So Riku disappeared into the cabin, breathing heavily because his chest felt tight. He had known Sora had known, but Sora had never mentioned it and he never thought it would have to come up.

King Mickey appeared on the table as he entered, watching him with curious eyes as he peeled off his school shirt. It had become thick with sea salt and sour from sweat. He had been itching for a change of clothes – even if these new ones smelt of the hold. Of flour, cheese and more salt.

When he'd ran, he knew life at sea wouldn't be easy. He had known that the food would be awful and that the hygiene would be worse. Surprisingly, the food wasn't that bad. Sora had stocked up at Bristol and could make a good stew. They ate a large dinner in the evening and a pasty porridge in the morning. Sora dumped half a bowlful of sugar into his. It was enough to get by, and Little Chief, incredibly, turned up with snacks throughout the day. It would be a long time before they had to tuck into the dried meats and biscuits.

But Riku was missing bathing. They had some fresh water stowed aboard, but it was reserved for faces, hands and underarms. When Riku had asked about bathing, Sora had said to just jump off the ship and let the sea do the work. The rest was for cooking, and drinking – when they weren't using rum or ale to cover up the taste of it.

Riku had never had more than a glass of wine at dinner. Now it seemed to be all he drunk. If his mother knew – he steered clear of the thought. And anyway, it was so watered down, that he didn't even feel the buzz of the alcohol.

Apart from yesterday. With Terra and Aqua. The brandy had burnt but it had warmed his chest and made him feel relaxed. He had felt able to join in the conversation. Had felt witty and confident and –

Sora had leant more and more against him the more he drunk. It was hardly noticeable at first, but then suddenly there were sat flush from knee to shoulder. The front of Sora's boot had nudged Riku's heel.

Terra had noticed. His eyebrows kept raising at Sora, but he didn't say anything. Sora had raised his eyebrows back the first time, but then had elected to look away.

Riku had determinedly ignored it. Had put it down to the alcohol and the swaying of the ship.

Maybe he had chosen wrong. Maybe he should have gone with a nasty crew that didn't care about him. This was – everything that he couldn't do. Everything that made his gut twist into itself – made words echo around his head and memories swarm around him like bees.

It wasn't like he didn't have an opportunity to escape. Before they had retreated back to their own ship, Terra had asked, "you really have to be away from England?"

Riku had nodded.

He had received a sympathetic grimace. "Shame. We could have done with an extra deckhand. It would have saved you from the storm."

That was when he had glanced over to Sora, deep in conversation with Aqua. He was gesturing wildly with his hands, and she was listening intently. The idea was tempting, for a second. To be on a real ship. A real crew. Someone who knew what they were doing.

"Sora's a good kid," Terra continued. "But I don't want you to be crimped by him."

"Thank you for the offer." The words came out of his mouth before he could think it through. "But I'm staying here."

There were those raised eyebrows.

"Suit yourself."

He still couldn't figure out why he had agreed. Yes Sora was pretty, but that was all he could think of – Riku had to make sure of that. He had to stop that before it went any further. Sora was an awful pirate and was driving them headfirst into a storm, but he was staying.

It felt like he _needed _to be here, which just sounded like he'd been reading too many books.

He needed to listen less to his heart and more to his head, his mother would say. That was one thing she was undeniably right about. This was madness.

But he knew that he was enjoying eating stew and sipping at diluted rum much more with the worst pirate in history than on a crew full of men.

There was a knock at the door.

"Do they fit okay?" Sora's voice called.

"Yes." Riku was surprised at his own answer. Yes, they fit fine. In fact, they fit _too _well. The shirt was just an inch too tight, the same could be said for the waistcoat and breeches. "Well – they're – maybe still –"

Sora's head appeared round the door. For a moment – just a moment, he bit his lip – then he nodded. "I told you, you can't be having baggy clothes at sea. They're perfect."

"Thank you." His voice sounded much too gentle, and he felt his face flood with heat. "For – for making them, I mean."

"I'm not too bad at sewing, I would say. For a _boy, _that is."

"Where did you even learn to sew?" Riku asked. The King was racing up his shirt sleeve, as always. He was getting used to the feel of tiny feet on him now. It wasn't stomach crawling. It was _almost _cute.

"You have to pick these things up, at sea." Sora stepped back out of the cabin, and Riku followed him. It felt natural now, like they were connected by a magnetic pulse. They left Goofy snoring, taking up both his and Donald's bed whilst the duck sat at the prow of the ship and took in the last of the afternoon sun.

"Have you always been on a ship?"

Sora had his back to him, heading back up the stairs and back to his perch by the wheel.

"How'd you figure?" he asked.

"Just-" Riku leant on the bannister at the bottom of the steps, looking up. The wind caught his ponytail in a dance. "You said you were part of Terra's crew, and part of Barbossa's, so I wondered…"

He let the wonder trail off.

"Aye," Sora said. He nudged the wheel with his foot and said nothing more.

Riku still wasn't done asking questions. "Terra and Aqua – when you said about teenagers…"

Sora took a breath. His back was to the sun, casting shadows over him.

"They lost someone," he explained, eventually. "His name was Ventus. They say they're still looking for him, but nothing's turned up yet."

It was as vague as ever.

"Riku." Sora's voice was serious now. One of the few times he had ever heard it so. "How long before people start looking for you?"

The question caught him off-guard. It was a taste of his own medicine, he guessed. Served him right to pry.

"A couple of weeks. At least." He tried to choose his words carefully. "I forged letters. My – family thinks I'm at school, and my school thinks I'm with family. It will take them a while to figure out that I'm with neither."

"That gives us good time to get away." Sora nodded. "It was lucky that you ran into me. Any other crew in that pub would have offered to take you on, and as soon as you stepped aboard, you'd be thrown in the brig. They'd keep you there until they got the ransom money, and you'd be just as likely to walk the plank as to go home."

The words were chilling. To run away just to need to be saved. That would have been a complete failure.

"I was lucky then," Riku said.

Sora's eyes narrowed. He adjusted his hat, again, this time to let more light on his face. "You could have gone with Aqua. She asked permission to take you on board and promised you'd be looked after. You didn't have to stay."

The accusation made it hard to Riku to keep eye contact. He frowned at the deck instead.

"I – like it here fine."

"How can you?" There was something in Sora's question. A demand? An insecurity? An anger? A hurt? Riku couldn't figure it out and all the while they were sailing into more and more dangerous territory.

"The company," Riku said, eventually. He pointed to the mouse curled on top of his shoulder. "No other boat carries a king onboard."

Sora stayed staring for a moment, then he laughed – long and loud and merry – and the grin was back. The sparkle in his eye was back.

"Well said, Master Riku. Well said."

Because, Riku had wanted to say. Because Sora may not have been a good pirate, but he was starting to make a good friend.


	4. Chapter 4

(A/N): A lot of men in the navy couldn't swim.

The Storm

Riku had been tidying the cabin when he came across it. That gold stamp that had stood out so much before. At some point, it had rolled off-of the table. He examined it again – the crest had a crown at the top, and there was a pair of wings incorporated into it. Perhaps it was meant to be a lion as well, but it was hard to make out the shapes.

He leant out of the door, stepping backwards and holding it up to Sora. It was prying – he knew it was prying, but he had been loose-lipped with Terra. If he got an answer, he'd be happy to make a trade.

"What's this?"

Sora shielded his eyes. He pursed his lips for a second, before he replied. "Wax seal."

"Is it yours?"

To his surprise, Sora just shrugged. He put his hand back on the wheel, kept looking at the endless horizon line. "Is now."

Riku supposed that meant that he had stolen it. Maybe it was the only thing on the ship he had pirated. It wasn't his place, he supposed, so he left it stood back on the table. Then he kept organising the piles of clothes back into trunks and carrying spare rope back into the hold.

It was a fairly empty place. There were a few crates full of food, a few coils of rope and a few cannonballs tucked into a corner. There were two cannons left on the ship, and he knew there was a gun either side of the wheel. But he hoped it would never come to that. Maybe somehow they'd stay out of that particular trouble.

Goofy ran up to him when he strode back onto the dock, jumping up at him. He grimaced and pushed him back down by the snout.

When he looked up to see Sora staring at him, his eyes glittering. He blinked when Riku caught him looking; turned his attention back to the sea.

"You didn't have to-"

"One of us did," Riku said.

That made Sora grin, though he was still looking away. He couldn't think too much about that look – the fondness that had already seemed to settle on Sora's face when they looked at each other. It was dangerous.

"Half-sails, if you will Master Riku," Sora called.

He rolled his eyes. No, this hadn't been a mistake. He'd never get away with doing that if it hadn't been Sora he had headed towards. It wouldn't have been this laidback, this easy. This felt right – this made him feel like someone he wasn't. He could convince Sora that he was witty and fearless – the kind of person he wanted to be.

The complete opposite of who he was.

So it was easy to give a mocking salute and reply "aye, aye, Captain."

Because instead of earning him a flogging, it just made Sora laugh.

"See that?" Sora pointed at a line of dark clouds on the horizon. "That's it. It'll be upon us late afternoon."

Donald was roosting on the back of the ship, and he ruffled his feathers indignantly at the thought.

On the deck, Riku looked up from the ropes, blowing silver strands out of his eyes. Already he looked at ease – like he belonged here. It wasn't just the clothes – though they certainly added a roughish air to him – he just seemed to belong on a ship.

Although that might have just been wishful thinking on Sora's part.

"Do we have to make any preparations?" Riku asked.

We. They were a 'we' now.

"When it gets closer, we'll put the animals in the hold," Sora replied.

Riku nodded and finished tying the sails. Then he looked up with those dazzling eyes and Sora's heart decided to skip every other beat it could.

"Sora, what exactly are we meant to find when we get there?"

"Captain Sora." He leant against the railing of the stern, thinking over his answer. Riku had answered simply enough when it was Terra asking the questions – why not try some of his own? "Tell me about Harrow first."

Riku frowned. He leant against the mast and crossed his arms. Sora had been right about that shirt - it was too tight. That had been on purpose.

"Why?"

"You tell me a secret," Sora said. "And I'll tell you one of mine."

"Knowing what I'm about to sail headfirst into is hardly a secret." Riku was indignant, and it made Sora grin. He sounded posh, when he did that - a petulant child used to getting anything he wanted.

So, he shrugged, sighed and looked up at the storm clouds, feigning indifference. But he was burning to know. He was burning to know anything about this boy.

"Did you get expelled?" Sora pressed.

"No!" Riku's frown deepened, as if that was offensive. "Well, nothing so formal. I was most likely on my way to being...asked to leave."

"Fascinating." Sora stacked his fists on top of each other, then rested his chin on top of them. "What does one do to get expelled?"

"Fail a test?" Riku shrugged. "Not score any points in sports? Not hand in homework on time? Do anything to not fit the perfection that is Harrow on the Hill?"

"You did all that?"

"I have never failed a test or failed to hand in homework in my life. And I'm Captain of the squash team, I'll have you know."

Squash. Sport. That explained the arms. Sora let his gaze slide back over them. Was it his imagination or did Riku tense slightly?

"So if you were such a perfect student, why were you about to be expelled?"

"Because I'm not the kind of student they want there." Riku was talking guardedly now.

"Why?"

He paused. "Because I'm a whig. I agree with the workers revolts - I think they should be treated better, get more pay."

All very noble, Sora thought sardonically. Which just sounded hypocritical in Riku's posh accent. It was clear from his flushed cheeks that he was telling the truth.

And yet - "anything else?"

Riku's eyes narrowed. He knew the question Sora was asking. It was the same one he'd been asking with his lingering touches and not so subtle stares. He watched Riku's chest rise as he took a deep breath in.

"That's enough for you to tell me what we're looking for."

"Touché," Sora murmured. "You should be well-read, are you familiar with Pandora's box?"

"Yes." Riku clearly expected more, and when he didn't get it, he blinked. "You're not serious?"

"The legend goes that the big three Gods hid the box by using their combined powers. Water and sky and death is a storm. The box is at the centre."

"I've never heard that version," Riku said, slowly.

"Or there's Davy Jones' chest. The Flying Dutchman should have it on board, and appears when there's a sinking ship."

"So, your plan is to find a mythological chest or to get us killed so that a pirate myth finds us?"

When he put it like that it made Sora seem like a child. Like a very silly child chasing fairy tales. He frowned at Riku, who simply frowned back up at him.

"I have it on good authority that what I need is at the centre of that storm."

"The note," Riku said it so calmly, like he had all of the pieces. "You mentioned a note-"

"Tell me the real reason you left Harrow and I'll tell you about the note." Sora grinned.

Riku glared at him. His eyes were like a cat's – green and shiny and sharp. He opened his mouth, cheeks flushed with colour –

And then stopped.

"Did you just feel that?" he asked.

"You're changing the subject." But Sora felt it too. A drop of rain. And another, and another. "Grab Goofy."

He gave himself the task of scooping Donald up from his perch. The chunky duck kicked his feet out angrily at him, trying to peck his knuckles as best as he could. Sora ended up half-throwing him into the cabin, which only riled Donald up more. He closed and locked the door before he could flutter back, though, turning to find a laughing Riku. He was standing close – closer than usual, with his head tilted down slightly.

Sora would practically have to jump if he wanted to kiss him. Part of him wanted to try – just to test it.

"Mickey needs to go in." Riku's voice was low.

Sora didn't move. He felt stunned – like a bomb was going off in his face. Eyes – blue-green eyes – so close – perfect nose – perfect mouth – perfect face. "Right."

Riku put a hand on the cabin wall, leaning ever so slightly closer. "The door, Sora."

There was an edge to Riku's voice that kickstarted him. Made the butterflies in his stomach settle somewhat and made a plan form in his mind. He pressed his weight against the door, feeling Donald pound against it.

"That's hardly the right way to ask, is it?"

Riku hesitated. The King was sat under his collar, a dark ball of fluff. For some reason, he'd attached himself to Riku, and hadn't left his side. It would have been jealousy-inducing, if it wasn't so endearing. To watch Riku's clumsy hands stroke at the Prince's head and back.

"May I please get into the cabin, _Captain _Sora?"

The butterflies took flight again – a furious flurry in his stomach. It wasn't just the name – it was the part sarcasm, part tease behind it. It was the fact that Riku had leant _just _a little bit closer as he said it, so close that Sora felt his breath in a puff on his forehead.

It was the fact that Riku had called him Captain and that was – incredible.

But he couldn't let any of that show. Instead, he raised an eyebrow and shrugged like he was indifferent. He finally stepped away from the door with a, "very well, then."

The key was still in, and Riku unlocked it. He was careful to only open it a crack, only enough to squeeze by and deposit the mouse somewhere safe.

It was still wide enough for Donald to escape from.

He aimed straight at Sora, who covered his face with his forearms to protect himself from the onslaught.

Riku dived forward to try to catch the duck, who flapped his wings to beat him off, landing back on the deck and making a break for the prow.

Sora cursed and raced after the duck. The rain was spitting down now. They were approaching the storm quicker than he had thought – the wind must have been strong.

Every time he got close to Donald, the duck saw him and ran in the opposite direction. And every time Riku got close, the duck would turn away from them both, heading to the other end of the ship. They continued running after the beast as the deck grew more and more slippery and their boots started to soak through.

It was the King that sorted it. Somehow, he had roused Goofy from his slumber and made him plod out of the cabin. He was sat comfortably on the dog's misshapen head.

Riku skidded to a stop, staring at them.

Goofy gave a low bark and Donald stop in his tracks. The duck looked back at them.

And then strutted inside as cool as ice. He moved calmly across the deck, tucking his feathers back into place and all but nodding at the two as he passed.

The three disappeared back into the cabin and Sora slid across the deck to lock it back up.

Riku's eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open.

"I told you he was a King," Sora said.

And that earnt him one of those rare, beautiful laughs.

The laugh was infectious, and Sora found himself joining in. They stood, balanced either side of the cabin and laughed, as the rain started coming down harder around them. Sora's stomach hurt from the effort and his face felt pleasantly warm.

It was proper rain now, sitting on top of Sora's coat in drops and soaking into his breeches.

"Is it too late to join them?" Riku asked.

Sora clapped him on the shoulder as he stepped forward. "You want to be a sailor, don't you?"

"I'm changing my mind."

"A pirate, then."

That laugh was harder to hear, more of a chuckle, as Riku followed him back up the stairs. His hair was starting to stick to the sides of his neck in silver strands and Sora's gaze stuck there. Stuck on the way Riku's shirt was clinging to him already. A fat raindrop ran down the side of his neck, over a strand of hair and nestled into his collarbone.

He clenched his jaw and tightened his grip on the wheel. There were more important things to worry about than the pretty boy in front of him.

The rain quickly came down faster and harder, until it was falling sheets all around them and they were thoroughly soaked. A river ran from the peak of Sora's captain's hat that was dripping onto his hands. It was cold too - he was practically frozen to the wheel. The wind stung his cheeks until he thought he was turning to ice.

It was hard to tell how long they had been sailing through the water when the thunder started. It sounded like the rumble of a stomach at first.

But then there was a brief flash through the clouds.

He gripped the wheel as hard as he could with soaked hands, fingers slipping off of the wood.

There was a hand on his shoulder at the next thunderclap. Riku's hand appeared on the rail, as if he was protecting Sora from half the rain. It was a romantic thought, if he stopped to think about it. In actuality, it was something more instinctual. A way of saying 'I'm here, let's work together.'

The prow cut through the waves and the rain determinedly, even though the boat was starting to rock. They surged up and down, but the rhythm was easy to conquer. It was easy to anticipate the ship pointing up, then down and adjusting the balance accordingly.

Riku yelled something that Sora couldn't hear over the crash of the waves and the thunder and the rain ceaselessly beating against the deck.

Lightning turned the world from grey to yellow. Grey to yellow. Grey to yellow.

How long had they been sailing? Were they reaching the eye of the storm yet?

The waves increased in velocity. Sora finally slipped, clutching onto the wheel as he was thrown backwards. Riku's firm grip pulled him back as it plummeted back downwards.

They slid over the deck as they headed further and further into the dark clouds, until they were both at the wheel, both pulling each other back from the violent wind.

Then it happened.

A burst of lighting came down right in front of the boat, splattering sea water over the deck and knocking into them as a wave. It turned the boat of course, made the masts tilt diagonally.

There was a terrible moment the boat teetered like that.

Then it crashed upright again.

"Sora!" Riku roared in his ear, pointing to the port-hand side of the boat.

He saw it, still illuminated as though it had captured the electricity. A huge sea chest.

His heart roared as loudly as Riku. This was it. This was it.

"Drop anchor! We'll swim for it!" He could barely hear himself, though his throat hurt from screaming.

"I can't swim!"

"You can't-" He stared at Riku, wild-eyed. Now he was scared - really scared - he'd brought a boy who couldn't swim on a mission that would destroy their boat.

"Take the helm!" he screamed, as though everything was under control. He jammed his hat onto Riku's head, and in the next moment he was falling down the stairs. He scrambled, mostly on all fours to the mast, picking up a sodden rope and tying it around his waist. The rope slipped. His hands slipped. Everything was slipping.

Riku was saying something else, but he couldn't hear.

"When I have it, reel me in!" he screamed, though he doubted his words travelled far enough.

It was hard to get a running leap off the side when the boat was tilting dangerously upwards again, but his hands found the railing he flung himself overboard.

And barely realised when he was underwater. It was just as wet, just as cold, just as hard to move through as the storm above it.

The light was still there and he kicked his way through it. He couldn't tell if he was on the surface or underneath it, there was salt-water in his mouth either way.

It was far, even as the waves were pulling him away, his fingers closed around the handle on the side. It was heavy. Much heavier than a chest should be.

He opened his mouth to signal to Riku to pull in the line and got a stomach full of sharp water. As he gagged, he tugged the rope.

By some miracle it began pulling him.

He wasn't sure of the direction he was headed. All he did was cling to the chest and try to stay afloat.

Riku was strong, even if he couldn't swim.

It felt like forever - as though he'd been stuck in this saltwater nightmare forever - when his head smashed against wood.

It stung as much as the cold, but at least it brought the chest against his stomach.

He clung onto it in a death grip with one hand, the other clutching at wood desperately as they made the slow climb up the edge of the ship. It was rocking so much now that he all but fell onto the deck like a fish.

He kept a tight hold of the chest as he skidded across the planks.

There was another hand on it. Riku was helping him tug it over to the cabin. It slid the rest of the way as the ship lurched back up.

Sora leant against the door, panting and coughing up seawater. There was an overhang that kept them safe from the rain, if not the salt spray for just a moment.

Riku was breathing heavily too, staring at Sora as if he was mad. Maybe he was.

But they still had to get out of this storm.

The storm seemed never ending. It got to the point where Riku wondered if it followed the chest, and they would never be free of it.

But the thunder did start to fade away. The lightning slowed. The rain petered out into a trickle, and then stopped altogether.

They emerged from the water filled nightmare into the last golden dregs of evening. The sky was bruised purple and blue and gold.

It was still freezing.

Riku's limbs were shivering. He couldn't remember when they had begun shivering and he couldn't imagine them not shivering. He couldn't remember not having water running down his face or his hair plastered to him. He couldn't remember what it felt like not to be gripping on to Sora's shoulder, riding out the waves and trying not to throw the contents of his stomach up.

Now that the sea was calm, he felt wobbly. Like he was off-balance. His heart was still racing so loudly in his ears that it felt like he could still hear the rain. Still feel it against his skin if he tried hard enough.

Sora leant away from the wheel, back against Riku's arm. He was quivering too. His hair looked almost black and hung over his face. He looked up, rain running down his cheeks like tears and his eyes were blue – impossibly blue. After staring at the grey storm clouds and the grey sea for so long it was like seeing the sky for the first time.

And he was grinning. That was just as blinding.

It wasn't clear which of them moved first. But suddenly Sora was pressed against his chest and he was pressing Sora to his chest and they were just there – holding each other in a death grip. They were alive. They were alive and the ship was still afloat and there would be a tomorrow.

By the time Sora pulled away, Riku's heart was almost back to normal. He felt warmer too, but that was more from the realisation that hugging – Sora was hugging him. He was hugging Sora. They were hugging each other and he should have pulled away long ago. He shouldn't have let this happen.

Panic was curling the back of his throat by the time that he realised there was no one around. No one could see him. He wouldn't get in trouble for it.

"Thank you for taking care of my hat." Sora reached up and tugged it back off of Riku's head. He was still staring at him, still slightly stunned, his arms just over Sora's waist.

"W-well." His teeth were chattering too. "You are the Captain."

He received another grin. Sora clapped him on the shoulder, just hard enough to sting.

"Good show, Master Riku. You can be called a veteran of the sea now."

Riku heard himself give a shaky laugh, but his voice was far away.

And Sora was already moving away, tumbling down the stairs yet again in his hate to get down there. Riku followed, gripping the bannister carefully and taking his time.

Sora was hauling the chest away from the door of the cabin. He bent to examine it.

It was a strange thing, rounder than any chest Riku had ever seen, with golden gilt edges. It was a pattern of flowers that traced up the side, weaving into one another. The wood itself seemed almost as red as the Highwind's hull.

And of course, there was a huge, gold padlock on the thing.

"So we can't get in," Riku said.

"Oh, we can get in. I have a key."

"How did you get that?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"I'm starting to broaden my horizons."

But Sora just shook his head and ran his hands over the edge of the chest. Gold – it was solid gold lining it.

"Is this a good time to say that the box part of Pandora's box is actually a mistranslation, and it was actually a jar?"

"Look at you." Sora grinned up at him, cheeks still raw from the cold. "Clever enough for Harrow, aren't you?"

Which just made Riku's stomach clench tightly in on itself.

Sora opened the door to the cabin, and immediately Donald flew out again, with ruffled feathers. This time, though, his tail was wagging and he was leaping up at Sora. His quacks were slower, though just as frequent.

The duck was caught in mid-air, and Sora brought him up to face height. Donald's beak checked him over, as though looking for any damage. When he was satisfied, he rested his head on Sora's shoulder, still quacking and wagging his tail.

Sora soothed down Donald's feathers, smiling and murmuring that it was okay, he was okay.

Goofy ran out of the door too, pressing himself against Sora's legs and panting. He leant down, letting Goofy rest his head on his other shoulder and putting an arm around him.

It was incredible. They all seemed to really care for each other. A dog, a duck and a boy.

Then a small, black shape came running out of the cabin too. It climbed up the side of the chest until it was sat on top of it, and Riku recognised a bedraggled looking King Mickey. He blinked up at him, then tilted his head to the side and started cleaning his ears.

"Hey," Riku murmured, feeling foolish. This was a mouse. He was talking to a mouse. He held out his fingers, instead, and Mickey sniffed them. "You okay down here?"

The mouse climbed onto his hand, and he still cringed at the feeling of those tiny hands on his bare skin. But Mickey was looking at him with such bright eyes that he could ignore it. He climbed underneath the cuff of Riku's sleeve, pressing himself into the warm wrist. If he was a cat, Riku was sure he would be purring.

Sora had to carry both the huge dog and the duck into the cabin with him, reappearing with a large, key in his hand. Riku had never seen a key with such a strange ridge to it before.

But Sora paused as he crouched in front of the chest, the key hovering above the lock. Donald and Goofy, either side of him, stared impatiently.

"What's wrong?" Riku leant down too, though it meant being uncomfortably close to Goofy, who managed to stink of wet dog despite being dry.

"It's just," Sora faltered. "This chest is meant to have hope in it. That's what all of the legends say about it. That it contains hope. What if – what if I open it and…it's empty?"

Riku thought about that. "You know, it would be a lot easier to comfort you if I knew what you were looking for."

"I'm looking for…" Sora ran a finger over the lock. Donald pecked at the back of his hand in either impatience or encouragement. "A sign."

Which was just as vague, honestly.

Goofy nuzzled Sora's hand too, and he jerked the key into the hole.

It twisted easily, but it took both of them straining on the lid to be able to get it open. (King Mickey escaped from Riku's shirt and watched all of this from the side lines.)

Riku almost dropped the lid again when he saw what was curled up inside the huge chest.

It was a girl.

A sleeping girl with sun kissed skin and hair so impossibly blonde that it shone like moonlight. She was curled up, barefoot, in just a white dress that showed ankles – shins – knees. Riku didn't think he'd ever seen so much of a girl's body before.

Girl's seemed to be shaped very much like boys. He couldn't see the excitement over it. Apart from the bump beneath her collarbones, she looked just like anyone else.

Well, it still seemed like she was shining, which was – different.

He looked to Sora. Who was staring into the chest with just as much amazement, his eyebrows pinched together as though he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.

"Is this a sign?" Riku asked. Dreaming. He must have been dreaming. He must have died in the storm and this was – death?

The girl stirred in her sleep, eyes moving beneath dark lashes.

"I don't know," Sora replied. He reached out a hand, as though to tuck a strand of her hair back behind her ear, then drew it away.

It was Riku who reached in, feeling his gut twist as he tried to get his hands underneath her body to lift her out. She was warm – impossibly warm, dry – and incredibly light. He lifted her with ease, letting her head flop against his shoulder as he stood.

He carried her into the cabin and Sora followed, holding back Goofy with one hand and still holding Donald in the other, watching as Riku lowered the girl into his hammock. She stirred again, her breath hitched, and then she kept on sleeping.

Sora put his hat down on the table. He was still soaked, both of them were, and they were making puddles on the wooden boards.

"We'll let her sleep." Sora's voice was soft. He was staring at his hands like they would give him the answer.

"What is she?"

Sora shook his head. "I don't know what the right question to ask is. I don't know whether we should be asking 'who is she?'" He paused again, speaking haltingly, as though he had forgotten that Riku was there –

"And why does she look like who I'm trying to find?"

**(A/N): Thank you for the positive feedback! I'm writing pretty far ahead so I'm excited to start unravelling this plot and the mysteries. **

**Honestly, guest comment - if you don't care for SoRiku, don't read a fic with SoRiku in the title.**


	5. Chapter 5

The Girl

They changed into dry clothes, but Riku still felt the salty sting of the waves in his skin. He couldn't get rid of that feeling. His hair was clogged with it too. But they didn't have the fresh water to spare to wash more than their faces, and even then, Riku hadn't wanted to disturb the mysterious sleeping girl.

Instead, they dropped anchor, and were sat in the bow of the ship. The bow sprit had been snapped off, and the foremast was drooping. They'd also lost the crow's nest in the storm, and half a sail. Apparently, they could still make do.

Sora was frowning and staring up at the dusk sky, waiting for the stars to appear so that he could figure out how turned around they had gotten in the storm. He had star charts spread out in front of him and was tapping a pencil against his lips as he waited impatiently.

Riku was sat with his back to the rail. King Mickey had made a home in his hair and he was trying not to think about that. Tiny paws in his tangled hair. Not that he had time to – there were a thousand other things running through his mind.

"Did you know we would find…her?" he asked.

"No."

"Are you going to tell me who she looks exactly like?"

Sora finally looked back from the heavens, his mouth a firm line. "No."

It was starting to get at Riku – that he wasn't told anything at all. But then again, it was hardly like he had been forthcoming with Sora, either. If he wanted to get information, he had to give it up. That was the way things seemed to work on this ship.

So, he played the words over and over in his head before he said them, just to make sure that they were right. To make sure they were worth something.

"When I was twelve, I fell down a flight of stairs and fractured my spine." As Riku spoke, Sora watched his face intently. Too intently. It made him look away. "My hair went white overnight."

"You fell?" Sora repeated.

"I'm – clumsy." It was what he had always been told, so it must have been true.

"We just sailed through a near on hurricane, and you didn't fall. You stumbled, but you didn't fall. _I _fell. Several times. You don't strike me as a clumsy person."

It was like he _knew. _Like he had a sixth sense, or could just see into Riku's mind. He ran his finger along the line of the planks. "Are you a clumsy person?"

"No." Sora's voice was soft. It sounded like the crash of the waves around them. "But I know a lot of people who were."

"I wasn't pushed." It didn't sound believable, even to Riku. "But I was – running – I shouldn't have been, I wasn't allowed to, the house – she only grabbed my arm to stop me. It was an accident."

"Is that how you remember it?"

He looked up at Sora. He was sat crossed legged, the dusk turning him into shades of grey and dark blue, just like the night they had met. It was more like talking to a fae than a boy.

Riku pulled his legs more tightly against his chest. "That's how I remember it."

"Why were you running?" Sora pressed, still in that soft voice. A part of Riku knew that he meant well – that Sora was the one that could be trusted, but it made him cringe away. No, that was the part that no one asked about. That was the question that picked the perfectly rehearsed story apart. "Riku, why were you running?"

"Because I was in trouble." He could barely hear himself, now, either. His voice sounded raspy. It was like Sora had some kind of power – as long as Riku was looking him in the eye, he couldn't stop himself from speaking. From unravelling years of practice.

"Were you?"

"I had –" What had he done? He couldn't remember. It was something – it had been something that had made terror spread through every part of him, filling him until it almost hurt. It was terror that had made him run. "I don't know, but I didn't want – I was in trouble to begin with and I didn't want to be…there was a…"

"Cupboard?"

Riku tightened in on himself even more, until his knees felt like they were breaking through his ribs. His heart was pounding. This wasn't how it was meant to go.

"She was trying to stop me from getting hurt," he whispered.

Sora finally relented. He heaved a large breath and looked back up at the sky, when he spoke, it was in that same small, soft voice.

"I was born in Havana. Cuba," he said. "I don't know who my parents were. No one really kept an eye on me. But I had a friend. We used to play on the beach together. And when I was old enough to work on a ship, she would always be there. Waiting for me. She was…the reason I wanted to come home. I wanted to get enough money for us to get our own ship – go wherever we wanted to go."

It took Riku longer than it should to realise that he was feeling a sting of jealousy. Someone who had known Sora when he was young – grown up with him.

A _girl. _That was the sticking point. Sora had a girl who he wanted to come home to. It made him feel foolish.

"So, are you trying to get back to her?" he asked, hoping the jealousy – the hunger to know anything more about this boy didn't show through.

Sora looked back down, and for once his eyes were completely focused. "She went missing. Three years ago. I came back home and according to everyone she had just – walked into a cave down by the sea one day as though she was possessed…I searched them all for her – over and over and she wasn't there. She'd just…disappeared. But there was a note. She'd left a note for me, in our hide out."

"You mentioned that before."

"It was a riddle. Maybe I got it wrong. But I was sure that it meant that in three years, three months and three days, there would be a storm. _The _storm that brought Pandora's Box – Davy Jones' chest – whatever all of the stories said was out there. A storm on a blue moon. That's tonight."

Riku had unfurled as he had listened, leaning forward to hear better.

"But that's – she's not –"

"She looks just like Kairi," Sora murmured. "But she had red hair – bright red hair."

Kairi. Even her name was pretty. Pretty name with pretty hair. There was that sting again that Riku pushed to the side. It didn't matter. It wasn't like he and Sora –

"Is that why you left England?" Sora asked, suddenly. "Because you're clumsy?"

The suddenness of the question caught Riku off-guard. No doubt it was meant to. He found himself replying before he could think it through and hide some of the truth. "One of the reasons. It's definitely why I can't go back. Not now."

"Better hope we're going in the right direction, then." Sora frowned up at the sky, as though he could will the stars into view. "A clumsy Whig – that's all there was?"

"Is that not enough?" His voice was testy. Careful.

Sora leant forward then, his hands on the deck between them like two dark starfish. He was still frowning, and it made Riku's stomach squirm. It was scary, when he was serious like this.

"You overheard my conversation with Captain Barbossa, which was foul play on your part. Now you know that I like lads as much as lasses."

He might as well have slapped Riku across the face. No one had ever said it so directly – so normally, as if they were talking about what meat they prefer with a roast.

"And since you were eavesdropping." Sora seemed to be leaning even closer. Riku was pinned against the back of the ship, with nowhere to go. "It's only fair you return the favour."

It didn't make sense – Sora had a girl – Sora had a girl he wanted to go home to, and yet he was so determined to find out who Riku was. What Riku was. His face was warm. He couldn't tell if he was imagining Sora's breath fanning against his cheeks, but the thought didn't help. There was nowhere to go and no way to slip out of the demand. That was what he told himself.

But there was a small – maybe not so small – part of him that wanted to say it. It wanted to be truthful, because Sora's world seemed to have a place for it. Aqua had high romances with French ladies and no one batted an eyelash. They had only been angry that Sora had said Riku had gotten away – not any of the rest.

Maybe he didn't have to run away from it all.

As he opened his mouth, there was a creak. They both looked to the other side of the ship, where the cabin door was opening. As always, Donald and Goofy sloped out of the opening to lounge about the ship.

The girl was standing there, looking more elfin than ever in the dusk. But at least she had stopped glowing.

They both leapt up, away from each other and across the ship.

"You'll catch your death out here – let me find you a coat." Sora was flapping his arms like a mother hen when the girl opened her mouth –

"Sora."

He froze. His eyes were wide and his face had gone a few shades paler than usual.

"How do you know that?" There was a desperation in his voice that made Riku's chest hurt. He was staring at this girl like she was the answer of all of his problems – everything was riding on her shoulders. But she just looked lost and confused.

"I don't know." Her voice was soft and gentle. It reminded Riku of a calm sea running across the shore.

Sora's face was unreadable. Or rather, there were too many emotions at war with each other to read it clearly.

"You must be hungry," Riku said. His hand hovered above the girl's bare shoulder. Surely, he couldn't touch her there. Not her bare skin. "Let's get you something to eat and drink."

"Aye," Sora said. "I'll – find Little Chief, and the better rum."

He crossed over to the entrance of the hold, walking ever so slightly stiffly. Riku guided the girl back inside without touching her, as though he was trying to guide the wind. Well, he thought, they did find her in a _chest _in a _storm_.

It was dark in the cabin, so he lit the collection of candles on the table. He found that she was staring at him with impossibly wide, blue eyes. The same impossible blue as Sora's. She was pretty – objectively, Riku decided. Her lashes were dark and long, her nose slender, her lips full.

It was a shame that he preferred Sora. Preferred his tanned skin and hair that resembled a sleeping animal more than anything else. Preferred his wink and his laugh.

He wished he had been able to get it out. To tell him – tell anyone and not risk everything.

"You I don't know," the girl said, examining him with scrutiny.

"My name is Riku," he replied. "Do you know who you are?"

"My name is Naminé, if that's what you mean." She paused, concentrating hard. "But I'm afraid I can't say who I am, because I'm not sure myself."

She was so small, Riku realised. She was a good head and a bit smaller than him, and half the width. There was a small, lost, confused girl in front of him and he had no idea what to say. He'd never even been _unchaperoned _around a woman.

"I'm sorry, this is – well, unorthodox – this whole thing is strange and – I'm sorry, this must be confusing for you. It must be – horrible to wake up on a boat in the middle of the ocean with two people you've never met." He was rambling, but he was standing alone with a barely clothed girl and he wasn't sure what else to do.

Naminé crossed over to one of the chairs, running her hand over the back of it.

"How can it be horrible when it is all I remember?" she asked.

Which stunned Riku. "But – you know your name, and Sora's name."

She shook her head, her blonde hair cascading in a shower down her shoulder. "Knowing things is different to remembering things."

That was when she spotted the seal sat on the table and picked it up, running it between her fingers and staring at the bottom of it.

Sora came back into the cabin, a bottle tucked under one arm and balancing a collection of damp looking dried meats and biscuits under his chin.

"There's a slight leak in the bilge," he said. Depositing the food on the table.

"There's a _leak_?"

"A slight one," Sora repeated. "It's easily patched until we make dock. And all of the best ships have bilge water. It's what keeps the bilge rats away."

However slight the thing, panic was crawling at Riku's guts. He didn't want to point out that they already had a rat on board – and that it was as valued a member of the crew as he was.

"This is Naminé," he managed to choke out, gesturing to the girl.

"And you didn't even offer her a coat." Sora tutted, peered around on the floor and then kicked one up to himself. He placed it around Naminé's shoulders as though it was natural. As though he wasn't disappointed at all. He was back to being happy-go-lucky with his crooked grin. "Bad show, Master Riku."

Naminé smiled slightly, and pulled the coat closer around her. "Is this yours?"

She held the seal up. Sora nodded, and put it back where it had been carefully.

"Where did it come from?" Riku asked. In truth, he had forgotten about it, but now that he saw it again he remembered just how out of place it was on this ship.

Sora shrugged. "Had it since I was a kid."

Since that was all he said, Riku decided to sink into the other chair, his mind still focused on the fact that water was coming _into _the ship.

"What do you remember?" Sora asked, sinking into a crouch in front of her.

"Waking up."

Sora glanced at Riku. He stared helplessly back.

"You were in a chest – a treasure chest? We pulled you onboard during a storm."

Naminé stayed very still, staring at the candles in front of her. The flame reflected in her eyes.

"So we can assume that you saved me," she said, as though by saying it out loud the pieces would become clear.

"We don't know that," Sora said. "There was probably a reason that you were in the middle of that storm. And things in the middle of storms usually have strings attached."

Naminé stayed quiet for so long that Riku wondered if she had forgotten to speak at all. But then she shook her head.

"I'm sorry. I don't remember." She looked down at Sora, her pink lips parted. "Did I disappoint you?"

To Riku's surprise again, Sora shook his head.

"More like worried me." He sat back on his heels. "I'm scared we've made you hit your head and given you brain damage."

Naminé's attention turned back to the flames. Her eyes followed the movement as though she couldn't understand what she was seeing.

"I don't know if creatures found in storms can have brain damage," she said.

Which actually made Riku smile a little.

"You're not a creature," he said. "You're a girl."

"Hm." Naminé's large eyes half-closed. "That can't be the wholly true. Girls don't survive in treasure chests."

"Well, part of you is a girl and that makes you not a creature," Sora said. The distinction was important, but neither of them knew why.

"You said, you know things, not remember them," Riku said. "Do you know anything else?"

Sora caught on, light twinkling in his eyes again. "Do you know the name Kairi?"

Naminé nodded. "I know Kairi."

Sora was almost bouncing off of the floor. "What do you know about her? What do you know about Kairi?"

"She had to be safe." Naminé spoke as if she was in a trance. "There were people, who wanted her, so she made herself safe. She is in a safe place."

"Where? Where is this safe place, Naminé? How do we get there?"

Naminé opened her mouth, and then she blinked. She continued blinking rapidly, and frowned. She even had a pretty frown.

"I'm sorry. I know that I know but I can't think. I can't – remember."

If Sora was heartbroken, he didn't show it. Instead he shook his head and stood up.

"No, I'm sorry Naminé. You've just woken up – just arrived into this world and we're already pestering you. Take your time, have something to eat."

"I'm sorry," Naminé said again, but nodded. She hesitantly reached out for one of the crackers, then something caught her eye. She stared at Riku, like he was the one they'd found glowing in a treasure chest. "You have a mouse in your hair."

"Yes, that's King Mickey," Riku said before he could think – he was developing a habit of doing that.

And then he realised how crazy that sounded.

He'd only been on this ship for three days, but already he was losing his mind.

Kairi was safe. Kairi was safe. Kairi was safe.

The words had lifted years of worry from Sora's shoulders. He felt a whole stone lighter. Kairi was safe, and they were on their way to rescue her. He'd get her back. It was possible.

After he repaired the leak as best as he could with only a few planks of wood and a handful of nails on hand, he checked the stars and reset their course. Well, the course needed resetting anyway. Now that they had a leak, he'd decided it was best to stop off at Morocco for repairs. They might have been able to make it all the way to New York, but by the time they got there, news of Riku might have gotten there ahead of them. Morocco was safer.

They had strung their hammocks in the crew's quarters instead, at the other end of the ship, to give Naminé some privacy. Though she had looked nervous – terrified really, when they had said goodnight. Riku had grazed his fingers against her shoulder in some semblance of a pat, and she had looked for a moment like she was going to cling onto his hand and never let it go.

But then Goofy had nuzzled against her leg. She scratched him behind the ear and he leant into the touch. She had seemed better for that.

She would be fine. With Donald and Goofy to take care of her.

"Morocco?" Riku asked. He was in his hammock, swinging it gently.

"Aye," Sora said. He was thinking about Riku's hand grazing Naminé's shoulder – Riku's hand around his shoulders earlier that day – and trying not to feel jealous. "Casablanca, Morocco. We need to get this repaired. Should make it there in about a week."

"That's not very far."

"I do apologise, my lord." Sora let sarcasm drip from his tongue. "But I don't see how we'll get very far without a bowsprit."

Riku frowned as him, then turned back to the ceiling. King Mickey was curled up on his chest, asleep. They never seemed to go anywhere without each other now.

"Besides," Sora said. "It's a Spanish colony – they won't care about some English school boy."

"And you can speak Spanish, can you?"

"Si. I lived in Cuba, remember? And speaking of things I can do that you can't-"

"Oh no."

"-You _can't _swim?"

"Lots of men who join the navy can't swim."

"Aye, I'm sure that works well for them."

"I'm on a _boat_, I'm not swimming to Morocco." Riku sounded exasperated.

Sora just shook his head. He couldn't understand it. Swimming was as just like walking – it was just as natural and he couldn't imagine not being able to. There was a whole world completely blocked off to Riku that he didn't know about.

That would have to be fixed as soon as they made port. At least it was warm in Morocco – Sora was already sick of the British weather.

Though Britain had brought him Riku, which was either a blessing or a curse. A blessing because they just _worked _together. It was like he had known him all his life – they had fallen into an easy back and forth banter, that was, when Riku wasn't too flustered. And when he was too flustered, Sora was treated to posh stammers and pink cheeks. He was treated to someone who understood. Impossibly – because they came from such opposite worlds – Riku _understood _Sora. At least, partly – and that was more than anyone other than Kairi had done.

And Sora understood Riku. Now that he had revealed just what his home life was like, Sora understood him. Understood the way he talked around a subject and had stayed reserved all this time – until the storm had pushed them together. There had been something about Riku curled into himself as he spoke about the accident that had made Sora's chest ache. It had made it hard to breathe.

He was desperate to clear that look from Riku's eyes. He couldn't explain why, but he needed to bandage those wounds and help them heal into scars. It never took much for Sora to take in a waif or stray – it was how he ended up with a ship full of animals, but this was different. This was urgent. This was because, yes, Riku was pretty, but he was also gentle and caring – yet witty and sharp when he needed to be. Because he made Sora genuinely laugh, instead of the false one he was so used to putting on not to worry anyone. Because he made Sora's stomach and chest flutter as though it was full of hatching butterflies.

And that was why Riku was a curse. Because here they were, stuck in that horrible question of, 'are you queer, sir?' And Riku wasn't ready to reply. But he had also let his gaze linger on Sora just a moment longer than it needed to constantly. They were stuck in this no man's land and it was driving him insane.

"About – about earlier." It was like Riku could read his mind. He flopped his head to the side to see him, but Riku was still staring at the ceiling, his face in the shadows. "It was – that was the main reason I was going to be expelled."

Sora stayed quiet. He tried to breath as quietly as possible, as though breathing loudly would spook Riku like a horse.

"I'd – I'd been caught a couple of times, with a couple of different boys. Though they always spun it so that – it looked like it was just me. That was why I was going to be sent home."

"And you couldn't go home." Sora let the words drip from his tongue as the pieces slid into place.

Riku nodded. He took a breath like it pained him, and then closed his eyes. "So, we're even now."

They were. But that didn't stop Sora's head from racing. So Riku was, then. He was, but he wasn't going to notice Sora's attempts to coax him out of his shell. He was, but now they had Naminé onboard, and didn't that just make everything more complicated?

As if anything about Naminé was simple. He had been expecting a map. Or a compass. Or – anything that wasn't a real, live human.

He wished Terra were here. Terra or Aqua would know what to do. But they would be leaving England as soon as they made port in Morocco – there wasn't any way to reach them now.

"I was lucky," Sora said, just to make it a little more even. "Aqua was the one who saw me kiss a lad for the first time. And he was the one who started it. I guess I was the one who continued it."

"Aqua seems nice."

"She just laughed about how awkward we both looked. Then she told me to be careful. There's only certain people you can trust with it."

There was a silence.

"How do you know who?" Riku asked.

"It's – more like a feeling. You just – get a feeling off of someone. That they're – like you."

Another silence. So long that Sora could hear the ship creaking beneath them.

"You're the first person I told. Properly told, I mean."

He felt a flutter in his chest. Trust. That was a good start. To any friendship – any relationship.

"I'm honoured, Master Riku."

He could hear Riku's smirk in the way he said it: "it's my pleasure, Captain Sora."

And despite the fact that they were nowhere near closer to what they had been looking for – despite the fact that they had nearly capsized, nearly drowned in a storm – Sora smiled to himself.

He was sure that he fell asleep smiling.

* * *

**(A/N): I know they're fourteen in the first game, but I'm ageing them up to sixteen/seventeen, because - it just works better for this story.**  
**In terms of sailing times, it is a rough estimate. I did try and calculate them but I write, not do maths, and I ended up getting muddled.**  
**And I think that's the only notes I have right now. I can say the next chapter will bring some new faces (and I am excited! For it!)**  
**Thank you so so much for all of the support! It literally means the world to me and I can't begin to explain how happy I am that people are reading this and liking it!**  
**I hope you also enjoyed this chapter, please let me know - I'm really enjoying Namine uvu - and I'll see you next week! xx**


	6. Chapter 6

The Drawing

This was the part that Sora loved. The days out at open sea. The sky and the sea and nothing else for miles around. He'd love it more if his ship was whole. Every time he saw the bent mast he winced with guilt. Yen Sid would not have been happy to see his beloved ship in such a state. For some reason, he felt as if the man would know. As if he would be waiting for them in port, shaking his head.

At least now they had become a crew of three. When Riku wasn't adjusting the ropes (Sora helped, when he could be 'spared' from the helm), he was up by Sora's side, leaning against the railing and staring into the wind. It made his silver hair fly out behind him in the wind. Sora loved that silver – it was like he had been blessed by moonlight.

Naminé sat on the other side, her hair mirroring Riku's. She'd become something of a duckling to him – Sora was trying not to feel jealous. More often than not, she checked his reaction to things, before she formed her own. It didn't help that she was particularly fond of King Mickey. Her eyes would light up whenever she saw him, and she was obsessed with putting her finger on his front paws, "like they were holding hands."

At least there was someone around who was smaller than Sora. And she was _cute _as well – just like a little sister. He had to keep thinking of her like that. She wasn't Kairi.

She just looked exactly the same.

Which had certainly made it hard to not be disappointed.

"What's Morocco like?" Her voice was still quiet – still like holding your ear against a seashell to hear the sea.

"Warm," Sora replied. "Much warmer than here."

"Oh, good. The wind is much too mean here."

Which made him laugh. He nodded at Riku. "See? Finally, someone around her with some _sense_."

"I'm so sorry that I didn't grow up in the Caribbean." Riku's eyes narrowed with his sarcasm. "But England isn't _that _bad. We have – we have scones, and cricket and –"

"And a third of the discovered world under your control."

"You can't _control _the world." Naminé frowned. She still wore that white dress, with a large overcoat she'd found below deck over the top. As a particularly strong wind blew, she buried herself further into it.

"Tell that to the English, and the East India Trading Company." Sora tipped his hat back to better block out the watery sunlight.

"There's a lot of things we wouldn't have if it weren't for the East India Trading Company." Though Riku was hardly bristling with indignation. It sounded as though he was just repeating information – like he'd been made to do his timetables.

"And there's a lot of pirates who would still be alive if there wasn't the East India Trading Company." Sora replied. "Naminé, you're born from the sea, do you think anyone can claim any part of it as their own?"

"Of course not."

Sora smirked at Riku, who shook his head at him, though he was smirking too. As if to say 'I can't believe you'd have the gall to manipulate a girl who's three days old.'

"Born of the sea?" Naminé repeated. She looked down at herself. "I suppose I am."

"Like Aphrodite," Riku said. "She was born from sea foam when her father was cast into the sea."

"I didn't think a good Christian like yourself would believe in such nonsense." Sora was learning that he couldn't resist teasing Riku. There was just something about the way he clung to that cultured voice that made him want to poke a stick at the bear.

"We've already established that I'm not a good Christian," Riku shot back. "And once you see lightning materialise a chest with a girl trapped inside, you start to open your mind a little."

Sora found himself laughing. Laughing freely – that was the best part about having a crew that you liked. And it had been a rare thing.

"And as soon as we dock in Morocco, I'm teaching the pair of you to swim."

Riku grimaced. "Must you?"

"Is there a problem, Master Riku?" He could feel a smirk tugging at his lips, and he let his eyes slide over to the taller boy. Let his eyebrows raise so that Riku glanced away. He was torn between enjoying this and hating it. Now that he knew the truth, he could push it – he could push this. And teasing Riku never seemed to get tiring.

And yet Naminé was right there. It wouldn't be fun for her to witness _just _how much Sora wanted to flirt.

"I never have any desire to be drenched in sea water again," Riku said. "As soon as we make it to land, I am taking a bath, washing my hair and never going above deck again."

Which only made Sora laugh again. Oh, he thought, he was getting that boy back in the ocean.

"But the sea is –" Naminé paused, her eyes wide as though she was trying to pluck the right word from the sky. "Life. It's – like a friend, carrying you to where you need to go."

"Or drowning you," Riku murmured.

"Only to feed the fish at the bottom." She shook her head again. "_Life_."

Riku opened his mouth to argue, but then he stopped himself. His gaze softened, and Sora knew that feeling. There was just something about Naminé. She couldn't be refused, in anything. She was certain, and when she was certain about something, she couldn't be changed. And there was something beautiful in the way she was saying it.

He supposed this was what having a little sister felt like.

Naminé frowned, then, and leant back over the rail to stare at the sea. For a moment, Sora half expected dolphins to leap up and talk to her.

But then she turned back to them and asked, "how do we know I won't turn into a mermaid in the water? Or dissolve into seafoam?"

The thought panicked them both into tugging her away from the edge.

They would not lose this little sister any time soon.

Riku felt like they'd been sailing forever.

And yet he didn't mind it. If he was honest – he enjoyed this. They were in their own world that was full of blue and was beautiful. Just the three of them, and the animals, and nothing else. They were safe here – and he never wanted that safety to end.

When had he last felt this safe?

He was thankful for Naminé. She was the one who kept things with Sora at bay. He might still tease Riku and wink, and linger just a bit too long when he nudged him, but he didn't dare go any further when she was around.

Riku couldn't figure out if he wanted him to. Now that he had admitted it – here, where it was safe – he didn't know how to continue. It still felt as though they would be caught. And he still couldn't figure out if Sora was still joking – if he did, actually, love Kairi. If Riku was just something to occupy the time.

He would be used to that.

There was a much less rational part of him that couldn't help returning the teasing. That enjoyed it all – enjoyed the way that his heart raced and his cheeks flushed. Because Sora was sunshine incarnate, and he had been living in the dark for so long.

Because he could hear Sora snoring in the hammock on the other side of the crew's quarters and let himself imagine what it would be like to be next to him. To have that warmth next to him – Sora's arms around him, head on his chest.

To wake up and be able to kiss Sora awake, basking in the smell of the sun and the sea. He'd make a small murmur, and wiggle himself back against Riku. Tighten his grip, but then maybe pepper kisses against Riku's collarbone –

He tore himself from those thoughts whenever he could. Not going to happen. Couldn't happen.

And not when Naminé was following Riku everywhere. She gave him time to think about it. To try and figure out just _why _it couldn't happen. Apart from society and law.

He stayed in the cabin with her one evening, because it was easier to keep all of those thoughts about Sora at bay then. And he had wanted to go through the charts and ledgers. They were a mess, to say the least – it was like a child's approximation of what a ledger should look like. Almost every word was spelt wrong, and every letter was a different size to the one next to it.

So he took it on himself to write them out _sensibly_, and the girl was fascinated.

"Why would you need to record it all down?" She was feeding titbits to the King. He'd abandoned Riku easily for the idea of a piece of crusty cheese – he tried not to be offended. Donald was sleeping on her lap, and her fingers danced across his feathers. If a duck could purr, he would be.

"In case somebody needs to know where we've been and what we've found out." He was still trying to decipher if it was a four or an eight.

"Why would someone need to know?"

He rethought. "In case we need to know."

Naminé tilted her head to the side, rosebud lips smiling down at the mouse in front of her. Traitor, Riku thought, as the King stood on his hind legs and washed his face.

"But surely you know where you've been and what you've found out," she said.

"I'm not so sure Sora does."

"He's a lot more capable than he'd have you believe." Naminé finally looked up then. "He's a lot more capable than he believes, as well."

Which was not as strange to hear as it should have been. Some part of Riku knew that there was more to Sora than he made out. He had seen that, when Sora had been stood like a child in trouble in front of Barbosa – when he had jumped headfirst into a stormy sea without a second thought – when they had dived into their childhoods and Sora had seemed – wise and sad. The complete opposite of how he always appeared.

"You've only known him for a few days more than I have," Riku continued, scratching at the page, but not writing anything in particular.

"No, I don't think so." Now Naminé's gaze was clouded again. "I think – I know that I've known him for a lot longer than this. I _know _him."

"Can you tell me what's happening in his head?"

Naminé laughed. It sounded like a bell chiming. "No one can be sure of that."

Which made Riku chuckle.

He paused when Naminé leant her elbows on the table, her hair falling dangerously close to the lit candles.

"What's happening in your head, Riku?"

It caught him off-guard. He wondered for a moment, what to say – how much to say – what she wanted him to say.

"I still don't know if running was the right thing to do," he said. "I ran, but I didn't stop to think about where I was running to, only what I was running from. Now I seem to be caught up in something…important. Someone else's story, that I probably shouldn't be in."

Naminé blinked, then frowned. Her fingers kept stroking Donald, and the duck quacked in contentment.

"But if you're here, then surely this is your story too?"

If Riku stopped to think about it, he realised it was actually simple logic. She wasn't saying anything incredible, just plain, simple facts.

Turns out he needed more plain, simple facts.

This was his story, and he was turning it around.

He smiled to himself as he turned back to the ledgers. But then a thought occurred to him. Something to cheer Naminé up before he left for the night, because she always looked a little bit scared to be left in the dark on her own. Well, Riku could understand that.

He let the pencil sketch out a poorly drawn shape, but when he turned it to show her, Naminé's face lit up in a grin.

"Donald!" She picked up the duck, pulling him from his slumber and trying to get him to look at the drawing. He blinked, bleary eyed, at anywhere but the paper. "So there _is _a purpose behind it all."

"Well, it's not writing – it's drawing, but-"

"Let me try." She held out her hand to him, her jaw set determinedly.

Riku had no choice but to hand over the pencil.

She began drawing right away. But she also pulled the ledger away and covered the page with her hand as she did so. When Riku craned his neck to look she tugged it even closer.

"I'll show you when I'm done, Riku."

Sometimes she sounded like a Princess. Her tone was confident, clear and she knew what she wanted. He could believe that she was some Goddess that they'd found at sea and didn't want to get on the wrong side of her. And, Riku had to admit that she was cute. With her heart shaped face and long lashes, she was adorable. It was like saying no to a puppy.

His only choice was to raise his hands in mock surrender and wish her goodnight.

"Land ahoy!"

Sora probably didn't need to yell it, because both members of his crew who cared were stood right by him, but there was a sense of satisfaction that came with it. He'd been the first one to spot land.

There was something feverish as he and Riku rushed to adjust the sails. (Naminé helped as best she could, but couldn't keep a good grip on the rope.) There always was after days at sea. Finally getting to their destination – finally getting the Highwind fixed. It was exciting.

It was exciting until Naminé asked, "how do we know I won't disappear as soon as I set foot on land?"

Which made Sora's stomach jerk with panic. He looked to Riku, who shrugged. Neither of them knew the rules when it came to someone liked her.

Morocco approached – a cascade of amber, square houses stretching down into the sea. They were built into the cliffs like stairs for a giant, and palm trees dotted green through it all – like nature was trying to reclaim the whole thing.

It was early afternoon when they were close enough to start docking.

"You've been here before?" Riku asked. But he was pulling the sail in and it was hard not to focus on those biceps.

"Aye." Sora forced himself to focus on his own sail.

"So, you remember where to go for repairs?"

"I don't remember much of anything," Sora admitted. "I remember having a good time, but that's because I didn't leave the taverns for a week."

Riku gave him a look.

"This is a pirate ship, Riku, and I am a pirate. What did you expect?" He tied off the knot and re-adjusted his hat. "And we'll have to stop by them, anyway."

"Why?"

It was Sora's turn to give him a look. "Money."

They were safely docked within the half hour. Sora let Donald and Goofy down the gangplank first – they both looked more than relieved to be on solid ground again. Then he jumped down and offered his hand to Naminé. Riku was behind her, his hands hovering over her waist as though he was scared she was going to tumble any minute.

But she was sure footed, keeping her eyes on Sora's and slipping her small hand into his when she was close enough. She stepped from the plank and onto the concrete dock.

And didn't disappear.

He could hear Riku's long sigh as he followed them both.

Then the mission began. Sora found himself at the head of the crew – his crew, he realised – as they headed into Casablanca. He was in charge of a crew. People were depending on him. That was a new and troubling development. It was enough to make his stomach cramp and his lungs refuse to work properly.

He began asking people for directions, and quickly ran into trouble. They frowned at him, and couldn't quite understand what he was asking. After the third person shrugged and turned away, Riku raised his eyebrows.

"I thought you spoke Spanish," he said.

"I _am _speaking Spanish," he snapped. The sun was in his eyes when he looked up at Riku. "I don't see you being any help. Some good that Harrow education is."

"I'm fluent in French and Latin-"

"Aye, now's definitely the time for a bit of Homer." It was hot and he should be happy about that, but it was making sweat trickle down his spine. He was tired, stressed and people were expecting him to be responsible. They were expecting something of him.

"Homer was Greek, which I'm not _as _good at, but still passable."

"Are you English?" A voice asked. They turned to find a tanned dock worker, arms full with a large crate. "You need any help?"

Sora elbowed Riku in the ribs, winding him enough so that he could speak first. "My crew and I are looking for a couple of repairs done."

Riku elbowed him back, hard in the bicep.

The man looked over the three of them, Donald and Goofy and raised his eyebrows. Especially at Naminé's strange ensemble. Sora had fashioned a petticoat for her to cover her legs, but she still stood out like a sore thumb. Riku stepped in front of her, shielding her from view.

"Aye – old Cid'll help you out wi' that. Two lefts down that way, a right and then down the stairs. You'll see the sign from there. But he don't come cheap."

"Wouldn't want them to be," Sora said, tugging the rope he'd looped around Goofy's neck and leading them the way the man had said. He felt eyes on his back for far longer than was polite. It was something he had been used to, but for some reason it felt strange now. Uncomfortable that someone was looking at him and his friends like a sideshow.

Cid's shop was down a narrow stairwell cut into the side of the port. The walkway smelt of urine, and even when they were free of the cramped stone space, Sora could still smell it.

There was a row of shops set into the stone, sitting like trolls underneath a bridge. It was dark enough down here, that they all had their lamps outside lit. Cid's shop had a large, fleur-de-lis shaped sign over it and diamonds cut into the wooden doors. There was an inviting glow from the inside, that the other buildings didn't have. In fact, it looked neater than most of the others – wooden beams waxed and polished to hold it up.

"Are we sure about this?" Riku murmured, as Sora raised a hand to the door handle.

Sora smirked. He couldn't help it. "Scared, Riku?"

"Should I not be?"

Sora opened the door and put on his widest smile. "Hola, amigo!"

The inside smelt of sawdust and smoke. A huge fire burned in a grate on one side of the room – a large pot was sat on top of it, though nothing was cooking inside it. On the far wall as an intricately embroidered tapestry – Sora could imagine it would be worth a fortune. So, what was it doing here?

The rest of the space was taken up with workshop equipment – a carpenter's bench, tool racks, and a large collection of model ships. Fine ships, Sora noticed at a glance, if a little unorthodox.

A man was stood behind the carpenter's bench. At their entrance, he had straightened up and put his hands on his hips, his brow furrowing. He was big, blonde hair sticking up behind goggles and a long toothpick held between his teeth.

He spoke in Spanish. "Can I help you?"

His voice was low and gruff, like a bear's. He was frowning hard – trying to make himself look bigger and scarier. But another glance at the model ships revealed wheel-along toys and cups and balls too. Sora's instincts told him that it was an all act – that this guy was in fact a big softy. It activated the annoying part of his brain – the 'let's see how far we can get before getting a clip round the ear' part of his brain.

"I would have thought that was obvious," he said, leaning against the doorframe of the shop. "You repair ships, we have one we need repaired."

The man crossed his arms over his chest, still frowning and making the toothpick wave up and down.

"Where are you from, kid?"

That 'chamaco' irked Sora. He couldn't resist a dig of his own. "Havana, gramps."

"You sound like it."

"Excuse me?" Sora scowled at the man.

Riku was frowning at him, desperate to be updated on the situation and beside him, Naminé's eyes were wide.

The man just shrugged. "People don't speak Spanish here like that."

"I realised."

The man took a long breath, and looked the three of them up and down. "So why'd they send a kid to do the Captain's job?"

"I am the Captain."

The man laughed, loud and deep, but trailed off when he saw Sora's face. The smile tightened.

"You're kidding," he said.

"Can you fix the ship or not?" Sora pressed.

The man raised thick eyebrows at him. But then shrugged and uncrossed his arms.

"I can take a look."

Sora nodded, stepping back out of the shop to let him through.

"He says he'll take a look," he said, to Riku and Naminé.

"And I can speak English, _chamaco_," the man called over his shoulder.

Riku was smirking, so Sora elbowed him again. "Be quiet."

The man kept a brisk pace back to their ship, and they hurried to keep up. It got to the point where Naminé had to carry Donald, and Sora was half-dragging Goofy across the plaza. He was insistent on sniffing every cobblestone he could.

When they eventually reached the Highwind, the man let out a long whistle.

"Sink me! What the heck'd you do to the poor thing?"

"We got caught in a storm," Sora said.

Naminé frowned at him, and he pressed a finger to his lips. She nodded, but still looked troubled.

"I can fix it, easy. But it'll cost you." The man had his hands on his hips again, surveying the damage.

Sora turned back to him. "I never pay until the repairs are complete."

"Aye, I bet you don't. And then you're free to sail away without paying at all."

He scowled and mirrored the man's stance. "Better than paying for a shoddy job."

"Shoddy job? _Shoddy job?! _I've been in this business for fifteen years, you upstart and never once have I had-"

"Cid! It's been a while!" A new voice called.

No, a familiar voice.

And Sora turned to see a familiar man walking down the deck towards them. It had been a few years, but Leon still looked the same – same long brown hair and scar that ran across his nose. It should have marred his appearance, but it only gave him a rugged handsomeness. At the sight of him, he broke out into a smirk.

"And look who it is – the little lion himself," Leon said.

"You know him?" Cid asked. He didn't seem impressed.

"Sora was on my crew for a while." Leon clapped a hand on his shoulder and he found himself grinning. Then he caught Riku's eye – saw the raised eyebrow, and looked away again. "He's not a bad sailor."

"Bad enough to drive his ship into a storm." Cid jerked his thumb at the sad looking Highwind.

Leon's eyes narrowed. He looked down at Sora, who looked away at him too. He could sense Leon looking over Riku and Naminé. He put two and two together quickly.

"I think we need to talk."

Within ten minutes, Leon had got them a booth in the tavern closest to the docks and a ten percent discount off of Cid's usual rates. After some haggling, Cid and Sora had agreed to pay halfway through the repairs.

If Riku was honest, he wasn't sure how to talk to the man sat across from them. It seemed that Sora knew a lot of handsome Captains with rare, but heart-skipping smiles. This one just screamed angsty backstory with that huge scar – was clearly a tragic hero from a gothic novel. It made him feel impossibly shy.

Naminé was next to him, with her jotterbook and pencil and Sora was squashed in at the end. He had one arm around the top of the booth, protecting her. His hand happened to be placed so that his thumb grazed against Riku's neck if he leant back. Which was certainly no accident.

There was a girl next to Leon, with short dark hair, tanned skin and almond shaped eyes. She was from somewhere in Asia, but Riku couldn't pinpoint where. She had been just as excited to see Sora, measuring him against herself and declaring that he was as short as ever.

And Cid sat at the end of the booth, looking equal parts curious and equal parts tired.

"I don't believe you've introduced us to your crew." Leon took a swig from the tankard in front of him. Of course, they all had the same.

"This is Riku – we met in Bristol." Sora put his hand on Riku's shoulder and squeezed it. Enough to make his stomach flip over itself. "And this is Naminé."

"And where is Naminé from?"

Sora only missed a beat. He took a sip of his own ale. "I think we both know where Naminé is from."

The girl – she'd been introduced as Yuffie – let out a whistle from between her teeth.

"You did it," she said. "You actually went and did it."

Leon looked decidedly less impressed. "You could have been killed."

"But we weren't."

"And look what you did to such a beautiful ship." Cid shook his head, sighing into his drink.

"Spare me the scolding," Sora sighed. "We did it and we found Naminé."

"And what does Naminé think of all this?" Leon asked.

Naminé looked up as though she had forgotten where she was. She thought hard for a moment, then she sighed.

"I'm not sure I have the best opinion on the matter, because I can only remember the last week," she said. Riku tried to sneak a peak at the lodger – but she clamped it to her chest before he could see more than a haze of pencil. "But I know that I've been happy. And I know that there's a reason it was Sora who found the chest."

"Naminé just knows things, sometimes," Riku explained.

She was taking the tankard in her hands – it was so big it took both of them cupped around it – and he lifted it out of her reach. Watered down rum was one thing – but ale? He didn't think so.

"How can you know things when you don't remember anything?" Leon pressed.

It was almost freaky, that the three of them said it completely in time. "There's a difference."

The adults around them blinked, stunned. Then, Naminé went back to sketching and Riku took a long sip from his own tankard. He still despised the taste – it smelt like urine and didn't taste much better. But it would make him feel relaxed – feel capable. And that was worth the bitterness.

"So, what do you plan to do now? What's the next step in finding her?" Yuffie said. She was watching Naminé draw and Naminé kept glancing up and smiling shyly at her.

Sora sighed. "We wait for the repairs, and then we try to get as far away from England as possible."

"What did you do now?" Leon's eyes narrowed.

"Me?" Sora put a hand to his chest, his eyes wide. "I didn't do anything. It's this one, over here, who's in trouble."

His knuckles brushed against the back of Riku's neck. It was a soft, fond movement and he felt his face colour just from that. Leon stared at him. There were dark rings under his eyes.

"Runaway?" he asked.

"Barbosa's already sniffed out a money making opportunity," Sora explained.

"We haven't side hide nor hair of either of you, then," Yuffie said.

Riku smiled. He was unused to this – unused to finding his footing in the conversation – unused to smiling like he meant it.

"Thank you." It was surprisingly hard to get the words out when Sora's fingers were still on the back of his neck, running over the tiny hairs there and making them stand on end.

"Done." Naminé turned the jotter around to show Riku, and he blinked down at it. The shapes were simple, almost childlike, but the drawing was good. It was two small people, sat on a palm tree that sloped sideways in an arc. They were talking to each other, smiles on their faces – one with spiky hair, and the other with a bob.

Wait.

Sora was looking too, and his eyes widened. He stared at Riku for a moment, like he should know what that meant.

"Naminé, let's see?" he asked.

She passed it to Sora, and as he took it, RIku noticed his hands were shaking. Slowly, he turned it around to Leon and Yuffie, like he was revealing a magic trick. They both frowned at it, doing the same wide thing with their eyes – at mixture of utter shock and complete puzzlement.

"That's me and Kairi." Sora's voice was hoarse. "That was our palm tree. Naminé, how did you-?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know." She was partly leaning into Riku's arm, and he let it slip around her. "I just – saw the image and I started drawing. When I started drawing, I knew I remembered where it had come from, who it was and what you were talking about, but now…I don't."

Yuffie, Leon and Sora stared at each other. Cid looked completely lost and decided to down his tankard. Riku felt like doing the same. He put his hand around Naminé's shoulders and tried to give her an encouraging squeeze. She bit her lip and ducked her head so that her hair hid her face.

"You haven't done anything wrong," Riku murmured.

"She said there was a reason it was you, Sora," Leon said. "She's connected to you. At least you, if not you _and_ Kairi."

"There must be some way to recall those memories. Even if it's subconsciously." Yuffie was getting excited now, tapping her fingers against the table as she thought.

Sora was still frowning down at the page. "But Naminé's her own person."

"I can try." Naminé's voice was still small. "I can try and remember. They're right. There's a reason I'm here with you, and I want to do it."

Sora was running a hand over his mouth, frowning deeply. He raised an eyebrow at Riku, who raised one back.

"We can't do anything until the repairs are done," he found himself saying. "Let's see what happens till then."

Which may just have been the first sensible thing that he'd said since leaving Bristol.


End file.
